Convert string to variable name in JavaScript

Asked 2011-04-10T18:29:49.950

333

I’ve looked for solutions, but couldn’t find any that work.

I have a variable called onlyVideo.

"onlyVideo" the string gets passed into a function. I want to set the variable onlyVideo inside the function as something. How can I do that?

(There are a number of variables that could be called into the function, so I need it to work dynamically, not hard coded if statements.)

Edit: There’s probably a better way of doing what you’re attempting to do. I asked this early on in my JavaScript adventure. Check out how JavaScript objects work.

A simple intro:

// create JavaScript object
var obj = { "key1": 1 };

// assign - set "key2" to 2
obj.key2 = 2;

// read values
obj.key1 === 1;
obj.key2 === 2;

// read values with a string, same result as above
// but works with special characters and spaces
// and of course variables
obj["key1"] === 1;
obj["key2"] === 2;

// read with a variable
var key1Str = "key1";
obj[key1Str] === 1;

javascript variables

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2 Answers

As far as eval vs. global variable solutions...

I think there are advantages to each but this is really a false dichotomy. If you are paranoid of the global namespace just create a temporary namespace & use the same technique.

var tempNamespace = {};
var myString = "myVarProperty";

tempNamespace[myString] = 5;

Pretty sure you could then access as tempNamespace.myVarProperty (now 5), avoiding using window for storage. (The string could also be put directly into the brackets)

answered 2013-06-14T16:21:05.533

You can access the window object as an associative array and set it that way

window["onlyVideo"] = "TEST";
document.write(onlyVideo);

answered 2011-04-10T18:35:52.663

Convert string to variable name in JavaScript

2 Answers

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