How to iterate through an array whose variable name depends on a different variable

Question

I tried Google this, but it's hard to explain what I am trying to do.

I am returned with a string var returnedString = model one.

Suppose I have a bunch of arrays called

var model_one   = ['a', 'b', 'c']
var model_two   = ['d', 'e', 'f']
var model_three = ['f', 'g', 'h']

This is what I have done

var selectedArrayName = returnedString.replace(" ", "_") //model_one

And this is what I want to do...

for (i in array with name selectedArrayName) {
    print selectedArrayName's array index. 
}

@Bergi, wait a minute... I feel like I tried doing this but something stopped me. Now I can't think of why. — dsomel21, Jan 31 '17 at 18:51
Oh, and [don't use `for…in` enumerations on arrays!](https://stackoverflow.com/q/500504/1048572) — Bergi, Jan 31 '17 at 18:53
@Bergi I was just speaking in psudo code, hahaha Don't worry. — dsomel21, Jan 31 '17 at 18:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '17 at 18:51

2

One way to approach this would be to create a dictionary of models, which can be accessed via bracket notation []:

var models = {
  model_one: ['a', 'b', 'c'],
  model_two: ['d', 'e', 'f'],
  model_three: ['f', 'g', 'h']
};
var modelName = 'model_one';

for(var index in models[modelName]) {
  var content = models[modelName][index];
  console.log(index, content);
}

answered Jan 31 '17 at 18:51

TimoStaudinger

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I was just going to comment this! Thank you for the love and supper Timo! – dsomel21 Jan 31 '17 at 19:00

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 18:50

If you are on the client side and not in a function, you could access it using

for (var i in window[selectedArrayName]) {
    // print selectedArrayName's array index. 
}

The better way, as suggested in the comment is to do something like

var models = {
    model_one: ['a', 'b', 'c'],
    model_two: ['d', 'e', 'f'],
    model_three: ['f', 'g', 'h']
};

for(var i in models[selectedArrayName]) {
    // print selectedArrayName's array index. 
}

How to iterate through an array whose variable name depends on a different variable

2 Answers2