Is it possible in JavaScript to initialize an array in, for example, subindex 1?
GenderArray: ['Female', 'Male', 'Other'],
I want the Female to be 1, Male to be 2 and Other to be 3.
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You can use the json instead of arraymunjal– munjal2011-12-08 09:43:50 +00:00Commented Dec 8, 2011 at 9:43
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3 Answers
Short answer is no.
It's not possible or at least not in all browsers. For example if you do something like this:
var a = [];
a[1] = "Female";
a[2] = "Male";
a[3] = "Other";
And later access a[0] it will return undefined. When you are initializing array JS engine allocates memory for let's say 20 elements which are indexed from 0.
You can ignore element at 0th index and use your array but please note that in your loops you need to specify starting index as 1 like:
for (var i = 1; i < a.length; i++) { ... }
And also be aware that your array's length will be 4 not 3 as you might expect in this particular case.
Comments
Just put in a dummy:
GenderArray: [undefined, 'Female', 'Male', 'Other'],
If you need an arbitrary position in the array use splice() as in:
GenderArray = [];
GenderArray.splice(4, 3, 'Female', 'Male', 'Other');
Which will put them in starting at position 4.
4 Comments
dan_l
no guarantee undefined is really undefined . For example I can assign undefined a value .
Ariel
@dan_l So don't :) Simple. And he's ignoring that one anyway. Edit: No you can't. I just tried assigning a value to undefined and it ignored it.
dan_l
It works on Chrome . undefined = 999; if (undefined) { console.log("yes"); }
Ariel
@dan_l Sounds like a bug to me, you should report it. And it did not work in firefox.
Use JSON. I think json is the best way for using associative arrays:
var myjsonobject = { 1: "Female", 2:"Male",3:"Other"}
Then Call it like this :
alert(myjsonobject[1]) //for female
alert(myjsonobject[2]) //for male
