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Is there a way to convert variable names to strings in javascript? To be more specific:

var a = 1, b = 2, c = 'hello';
var array = [a, b, c];

Now at some point as I go through the array, I need to get variable names (instead of their values) as strings - that would be 'a' or 'b' or 'c'. And I really need it to be a string so it is writeable. How can I do that?

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3 Answers 3

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30

Use a Javascript object literal:

var obj = {
    a: 1,
    b: 2,
    c: 'hello'
};

You can then traverse it like this:

for (var key in obj){
    console.log(key, obj[key]);
}

And access properties on the object like this:

console.log(obj.a, obj.c);
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5 Comments

The quotes around the properties' names are optional - why not save yourself some typing and drop them?
Actually, I am glad he included the quotes, it all together makes much more sense to me.
There are several ways to populate an object literal with values - choose the one you like best: obj={a:5}; obj={'a':5}; obj={},obj.a=5; obj={},obj['a']=5;
I originally didn't have quotes - check my edits. Decided to add them because, in some cases, you do need quotes. And JSON requires quotes. It's just a good habit to pick up.
I would normally do console.log() of course, but I didn't want to assume Firebug.
3

What you could do is something like:

var hash = {};
hash.a = 1;
hash.b = 2;
hash.c = 'hello';
for(key in hash) {
    // key would be 'a' and hash[key] would be 1, and so on.
}
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1

Goint off of Triptych's stuff (Which Thanks)...

(function(){
  (createSingleton = function(name){  // global
    this[name] = (function(params){
      for(var i in params){
        this[i] = params[i];
        console.log('params[i]: ' + i + ' = ' + params[i]);
      }
      return this;
    })({key: 'val', name: 'param'});
  })('singleton');
  console.log(singleton.key);
})();

Just thought this was a nice little autonomous pattern...hope it helps! Thanks Triptych!

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