Converting string to integer array

Question

I have an array of geodata stored as a string, and need to turn into into a array of numbers.

var input = "[34.1103897,-118.0398531]"
var output = [34.1103897,-118.0398531]

Not sure the best way to do this. Any tips/ suggestions appreciated!

Answer 1

The easiest way to convert an array of that format is to use JSON.parse.

Simply:

var input = "[34.1103897,-118.0398531]";
var output = JSON.parse(input);

Answer 2

Assuming the data is always formatted with no whitespace, you could simply remove the first and last characters, and split on ',':

var input = '[34.1303897,-118.0398591]';
var output = input.slice(1, -1).split(',').map(parseFloat);

Alternatively, that syntax is technically valid JSON syntax, so you could just:

var input = '[34.1303897,-118.0398591]';
var output = JSON.parse(input);

However, this could be dangerous depending on where the data comes from.

Answer 3

JSON.parse is the obvious choice, but there is also manual parsing with a regular expression (the following assumes you might also want to match a leading '+'):

var input = "[34.1103897,-118.0398531]"
var output = (input.match(/[+-]?[\d\.]+/g) || []).map(Number);

console.log(output)

You might consider validating the input or the resulting output regardless of the method chosen to convert it to an array.