Check if an array item is set in JS

javascript arrays isset
Gusepo picture Gusepo · Apr 10, 2010 · Viewed 104.1k times · Source

I've got an array

    var assoc_pagine = new Array();
    assoc_pagine["home"]=0;
    assoc_pagine["about"]=1;
    assoc_pagine["work"]=2;

I tried 

    if (assoc_pagine[var] != "undefined") {

but it doesn't seem to work

I'm using jquery, I don't know if it can help

Thanks

Answer

Stefan picture Stefan · Apr 10, 2010

Use the in keyword to test if a attribute is defined in a object

if (assoc_var in assoc_pagine)

OR

if ("home" in assoc_pagine)

There are quite a few issues here.

Firstly, is var supposed to a variable has the value "home", "work" or "about"? Or did you mean to inspect actual property called "var"?

If var is supposed to be a variable that has a string value, please note that var is a reserved word in JavaScript and you will need to use another name, such as assoc_var.

var assoc_var = "home";
assoc_pagine[assoc_var] // equals 0 in your example

If you meant to inspect the property called "var", then you simple need to put it inside of quotes.

assoc_pagine["var"]

Then, undefined is not the same as "undefined". You will need typeof to get the string representation of the objects type.

This is a breakdown of all the steps. 

var assoc_var = "home"; 
var value = assoc_pagine[assoc_var]; // 0
var typeofValue = typeof value; // "number"

So to fix your problem

if (typeof assoc_pagine[assoc_var] != "undefined")

update: As other answers have indicated, using a array is not the best sollution for this problem. Consider using a Object instead.

var assoc_pagine = new Object();
assoc_pagine["home"]=0;
assoc_pagine["about"]=1;
assoc_pagine["work"]=2;

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