Accessing javascript object with string value

Question

I don't understand why can't i access values like this:

object = {
    test:{
        value: "Hello world"
    }
}

variable = "value";

//this gives me "Hello world"
console.log(object.test.value);

//this gives me undefined error
console.log(object.test.variable);

By now i can understand that it can't be done this way, but i still need to give some value to the variable and then use that variable to access object values.

possible duplicate of [Dynamic object property name](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4244896/dynamic-object-property-name) — Esailija, Jun 26 '12 at 18:48
possible duplicate of [javascript object, access variable property name?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4255472/javascript-object-access-variable-property-name) — Bergi, Jun 26 '12 at 18:51

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 26 '12 at 18:48

16

Do it this way:

console.log(object.test[variable]);

Doing it with dots is using literal attribute names. I.e., object.test.value equates to object.test['value'].

answered Jun 26 '12 at 18:48

Jonathan M

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 26 '12 at 18:48

2

You need to do

object.test[variable]

Objects can be accessed using both . and [].

object.test.variable is looking for the literal property "variable", which doesn't exist.

answered Jun 26 '12 at 18:48

gen_Eric

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Accessing javascript object with string value

2 Answers2