Create object from a string, javascript

Question

Is it possible to create an object from a string content?

For example, I have a string "{ name: John }" how can I simply parse it to create an object { name: 'John' } ?

UPDATE

Unfortunately JSON.parse won't work for me, there can be also some tricky strings (if you used mongodb you know), e.g. { name: John, email: { $exists: true } }

Maybe there is another solution like mongodb query parser?

Why are you using this format? – Blender Jun 01 '13 at 07:50 — Blender, Jun 01 '13 at 07:50
Where are you getting these strings from? – Blender Jun 01 '13 at 07:54 — Blender, Jun 01 '13 at 07:54

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 01 '13 at 07:35

2

this is one way to do it. //code for trim method

 if(typeof String.prototype.trim !== 'function') {
      String.prototype.trim = function() {
        return this.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''); 
      }
    }

    var s =  "{ name: John }";
    var arr = s.substring(1,s.length-1).trim().split(':');
    var obj = {};
    obj[arr[0]]=arr[1];

    alert(obj.name);

answered Jun 01 '13 at 07:35

mrida

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What about `"{ name: John, family: Resig }"` ? – Jun 01 '13 at 07:44
this kind of technique I already use, for ``"{ name: John, family: Resig }"`` you need to split it before on ``,`` – Kosmetika Jun 01 '13 at 07:48
but in my case there can be even more complicated techniques like ``{ name: John, email: { $exists: true }}`` – Kosmetika Jun 01 '13 at 07:50

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 01 '13 at 07:29

0

If you can get '{"name":"John"}' then you can just decode it as JSON.

answered Jun 01 '13 at 07:29

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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score 0 · Answer 3 · 2013-06-01T07:46:14.080

0

Working jsFiddle Demo

Your string must be valid JSON format:

var s = '{ "name": "John", "family": "Resig" }';

Then you can parse it with JSON.parse:

var o = JSON.parse(s);

And you can use the object o:

alert(o.name); // John
alert(o.family); // Resig

edited Jun 01 '13 at 07:46

answered Jun 01 '13 at 07:40

unfortunately I can't be sure that it will be correct JSON, a string could be like this ``{ data: $exists }``, seems only spliting & slicing may help – Kosmetika Jun 01 '13 at 07:45
1

@Kosmetika How are you generating your JSON? All server side languages has ability to generate **valid** JSON string. – Jun 01 '13 at 07:47
it's not a JSON, it's simple string that user puts into shell – Kosmetika Jun 01 '13 at 07:55
@Kosmetika I don't think it's a correct way to do this. Imagine user wants something like this: `{ "fullname": "Resig, John: jQuery Creator" }` (an object with one pair). How this must be input? `{ fullname: Resig, John: jQuery Creator }` (an object with two pairs)? – Jun 01 '13 at 08:01
yeah, sounds not ok.. in ideal it can be typed like { fullname: "Resig, John: jQuery Creator" }.. – Kosmetika Jun 01 '13 at 08:13

Create object from a string, javascript

3 Answers3