javascript get array name

Question

so i have this array:

var utf = Array(
 a: Array('á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'),
 e: Array('é','ê','É','È'),
 i: Array('í','Í'),
 o: Array('ó','õ','Ó','Õ'),
 u: Array('ú','Ú'),
 c: Array('ç','Ç') 
);

I want to run a for loop like:

for(i = 0; i < utf.length; i++){
 for (j = 0; j < utf[i].length; j++){
 mystring.replace(utf[i][j], <utf[i][arrayname]>);
 }
}

is this possible? how? would you do this in a different way? how?

Thank you very much

Answer 1

function doReplace(mystring)
{
 var utf = {
 a: ['á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'],
 e: ['é','ê','É','È'],
 i: ['í','Í'],
 o: ['ó','õ','Ó','Õ'],
 u: ['ú','Ú'],
 c: ['ç','Ç']
 };
 for(var c in utf)
 {
 var charArray = utf[c];
 for (var j = 0; j < charArray.length; j++)
 {
 mystring= mystring.replace(new RegExp(charArray[j], "g"), c);
 }
 }
 return mystring;
}

It's slow. The fastest solution if your browser compile regexes (like most new ones do) might be to use one regex per character :

var utf = {
 a: ['á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'],
 e: ['é','ê','É','È'],
 i: ['í','Í'],
 o: ['ó','õ','Ó','Õ'],
 u: ['ú','Ú'],
 c: ['ç','Ç']
};
var utfRegexes = {};
// Sadly javascript isn't C# so something that could be done in two lines
// of LINQ need to be unrolled.
for(var c in utf)
{
 console.log("in " + c);
 var chars = "[";
 for (var j = 0; j < utf[c].length; j++)
 {
 chars += utf[c][j];
 }
 chars += "]";
 utfRegexes[c] = new RegExp(chars, "g");
}
function doReplaceRegex(mystring)
{ 
 for(var c in utfRegexes)
 {
 mystring = mystring.replace(utfRegexes[c], c); 
 }
 return mystring;
}

• Crescent Fresh: Note that replace will only replace the first instance of the given char/string.
• Julien Roncaglia: Oh yeah could also solve this bug as I already solved the fact that replace return it's result instead of changing the input as OP seemed to assume.

Answer 2

Arrays in Javascript support only integer indexes. Use object. I also recommend using JSON as the most readable and simplest way how to create new arrays and objects:

var utf = {
 a: ['á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'],
 e: ['é','ê','É','È']
 //etc
};
for (var i in utf)
{
 //In the i variable, you'll find name of array of chars: a, e, i, o, u, c...
 //The array of chars can be found in utf[i]
}

Answer 3

It is possible using an associative array (i.e. object) instead of a normal array.

var utf = {
 'a': ['á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'],
 'e': ['é','ê','É','È'],
 'i': ['í','Í'],
 'o': ['ó','õ','Ó','Õ'],
 'u': ['ú','Ú'],
 'c': ['ç','Ç']
 }
 var mystring = 'abgvÁÓÚ';
 for(var i in utf){
 for(var j = 0; j < utf[i].length; j++){
 mystring.replace(utf[i][j], i);
 }
 }

Answer 4

// Just a semantic reformat, lacks speed improvements
var utf = Array(
 Array('a', 'á','à','ã','Á','À','Ã'),
 Array('e', 'é','ê','É','È'),
 Array('i', 'í','Í'),
 Array('o', 'ó','õ','Ó','Õ'),
 Array('u', 'ú','Ú'),
 Array('c', 'ç','Ç') 
);
for(i = 0; i < utf.length; i++){
 for j = 1; j < utf[i].length; j++){
 mystring.replace(utf[i][j], utf[i][0]);
 }
}