Json to string to javascript array

Question

i have a json string returned to a hidden value and i want to assign it to a javascript array and print each element of the array.

Json string returned by hdn_client_windows - ["5703","5704"]

Javascript array assignment is as below.

var times = $('#hdn_client_windows').val();
alert(times[0]); // this printed only--> [
alert(times[1]); // this printed only--> "

what am i doing wrong ?

• Bergi: As you said, it returns a JSON string - not an array object.

Answer 1

You need to parse the JSON into an array with JSON.parse first:

var times = JSON.parse($('#hdn_client_windows').val());

Since you are already using jQuery, it might be a good idea to defer to $.parseJSON instead just to be on the safe side (full compatibility with old browsers):

var times = $.parseJSON($('#hdn_client_windows').val());

• Murali Murugesan: @Jon, Just added the link for the one who is not using jQuery. Direct link to JSON js library :)

Answer 2

Use $.parseJSON().

var str = '["5703","5704"]';
var times = $.parseJSON( str );

Answer 3

You have to parse the string first using JSON.parse (older browsers might require you to load this in):

var times = JSON.parse($('#hdn_client_windows').val());
alert(times[0]); // Will display first item
alert(times[1]); // Will display second item

• Lix: Please fix/remove the comments from the code you've copied. There are few things that are worse than a misleading/wrong comment.

Answer 4

You could use jquery's parseJSON() function.

var str = '["5703","5704"]';
var parsed = $.parseJSON( str );

The parsed object now contains the array: ["5703","5704"]

Reference - jQuery.parseJSON( json )

"Takes a well-formed JSON string and returns the resulting JavaScript object."