Argument in reference

Question

I have an object:

obj = {
 obj1: {
 name: "Test";
 }
}

and function:

var anon = function(a) {
 alert(obj.a.name);
}

I want to give as an argument "obj1". Im newbie to programming so I think I should get alert with "Test" but it doesn't work. How to give reference with argument?

• Ivan Chernykh: Must mention that argument "obj1" must be string !

Answer 1

You can do this way: You can always access properties of the object as obj[key], thats what we are doing here.

var anon = function(a) {
 alert(obj[a].name);
}

and remove ; from the inline object property definision syntax.

obj = {
 obj1: {
 name: "Test"; //<-- Here
 }
}

http://jsfiddle.net/RuCnU/

This Link can provide you some basic insight on object and keys.

Answer 2

var anon = function(a) {
 alert(obj[a].name);
}

When you are looking up the property of an object using a string use square brackets, the obj.a will only work if the object has a property named a, for example obj = {a: "Test"}.