create an array based on a variables string

Question

I want to pass a string for an array's name to a function, and the function create that array, e.g:

make_array('array_name', data);

function make_array(array_name, data){
    array_name = [];

    // do stuff

    array_name.push(//stuff);

}

I don't want to have to create the array first manually

do you want your array variables injected in global scope? I might sugest you creating a namespace for your arrays. So you can do something like this in your global namespace: var arrayNamespace = {}; and in your function you'll do: arrayNamespace[arrayName] = []; arrayNamespace[arrayName].push(value); — eAbi, Jun 11 '14 at 10:22

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 10:19

2

You can do .

window[array_name] = [];

answered Jun 11 '14 at 10:19

Tushar Gupta - curioustushar

58,085
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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 10:19

0

You can use eval() to do it.

eval("var " + array_name + " = []");

answered Jun 11 '14 at 10:19

jbduzan

1,106
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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 10:23

If you just want the function to return an array, there is no need to create it beforehand. You can just do this:

function make_array(data){
    var array_name = [];

    // do stuff

    array_name.push(//stuff);
    return array_name;
}

var my_new_array = make_array(data);

create an array based on a variables string

3 Answers3