String to Object

Question

So basically I have this code:

var string = '{name: "bob", height: 4, weight: 145}';

I would like to know if it is possible to convert that string into an object. so that I can use

string.name, string.height, and string.weight

(I am retrieving the string variable from a database so I cannot just remove the quotes and make it an object in the first place)

Why not send the string as JSON and use `JSON.parse( string )` — elclanrs, Dec 25 '12 at 02:14
I have an array of these objects basically and that is how it is being stored. — tdub2012, Dec 25 '12 at 02:20
I don't think it's worth your time finding a solution for this problem, because the problem is actually your string format, using JSON is IMO the proper solution here, instead of trying to parse a format that you created which btw looks very similar to JSON -> `var string = '{"name": "bob", "height": 4, "weight": 145}'` — elclanrs, Dec 25 '12 at 02:26
ok, thankyou, I am still learning and I am not very familiar with JSON, however, I get what you are saying and will switch to that as it seems the easiest. thankyou. — tdub2012, Dec 25 '12 at 02:31

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:24

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eval, as suggested by Igor, will certainly work but is vulnerable to attack.

Instead you could use a library to parse it for you. There are options in the following link:

Eval is evil... So what should I use instead?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:24

Community

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answered Dec 25 '12 at 02:24

Chris Simpson

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Igor · Answer 2 · 2012-12-25T02:26:31.013

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I would not use string for a variable name, but:

var obj = eval(string);
alert(obj.name);

or you can use jQuery.parseJSON: api.jquery.com/jQuery.parseJSON.

edited Dec 25 '12 at 02:26

answered Dec 25 '12 at 02:15

Igor

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thankyou string is just an example I was using. isnt eval bad though? – tdub2012 Dec 25 '12 at 02:19
Actually it would be something like `eval('var obj = '+string);` – Musa Dec 25 '12 at 02:20
that works but, will it open up my application to any vulnerabilities? – tdub2012 Dec 25 '12 at 02:22
I've decided to switch the variable to JSON and use jQuery.parseJSON, thankyou – tdub2012 Dec 25 '12 at 02:32

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 25 '12 at 02:32

It seems that your string is malformed. In order to work with JSON.parse or even jQuery.parseJSON methods, your keys must have speech marks (" ) around them, like so:

var str = '{"name": "bob", "height": 4, "weight": 145}';
var obj = JSON.parse(str);

You can test this by adding console.log(obj); as the final line. Here is my jsFiddle example.

So try to see if you can pull down the data from the server in the format I have suggested and it can then easily be parsed into a JavaScript object.

String to Object

3 Answers3