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Javascript: given an array of variables, function to remove characters and output another array

so I am still learning Javascript, so I know this is a basic questions, and I'd really like to learn what I'm missing. I have an array of variables, and I need a function that removes special characters, and returns the result as an array.
Here's my code:
var myArray = [what_hap, desc_injury];
function ds (string) {
string.replace(/[\\]/g, ' ')
string.replace(/[\"]/g, ' ')
string.replace(/[\/]/g, '-')
string.replace(/[\b]/g, ' ')
string.replace(/[\f]/g, ' ')
string.replace(/[\n]/g, ',')
string.replace(/[\r]/g, ' ')
string.replace(/[\t]/g, ' ');
return string;
}
ds (myArray);
I know that's not going to work, so I'm just trying to learn the simplest and cleanest way to output:
[whatHap: TEXTw/oSpecialCharacters, descInj: TEXTw/oSpecialCharacters]
Anyone willing to guide a noobie? Thanks! :)

The comments on the question are correct, you need to specify what you are asking a little better but I will try and give you some guidance from what I assume about your intended result.
One important thing to note which would fix the function you already have is that string.replace() will not change the string itself, it returns a new string with the replacements as you can see in the documentation. to do many replacements you need to do string = string.replace('a', '-')
On to a solution for the whole array. There are a couple ways to process an array in javascript: for loop, Array.forEach(), or Array.map(). I urge you to read the documentation of each and look up examples on your own to understand each and where they are most useful.
Since you want to replace everything in your array I suggest using .map()
or .foreach() since these will loop through the whole array for you without you having to keep track of the index yourself. Below are examples of using each to implement what I think you are going for.
Map
function removeSpecial(str) {
// replace all these character with ' '
// \ " \b \f \r \t
str = str.replace(/[\\"\b\f\r\t]/g, ' ');
// replace / with -
str = str.replace(/\//g, '-');
// replace \n with ,
str = str.replace(/\n/g, ',');
return str;
}
let myArray = ["string\\other", "test/path"];
let withoutSpecial = myArray.map(removeSpecial); // ["string other", "test-path"]
forEach
function removeSpecial(myArray) {
let withoutSpecial = [];
myArray.forEach(function(str) {
str = str.replace(/[\\"\b\f\r\t]/g, ' ');
// replace / with -
str = str.replace(/\//g, '-');
// replace \n with ,
str = str.replace(/\n/g, ',');
withoutSpecial.push(str)
});
return withoutSpecial;
}
let myArray = ["string\\other", "test/path"];
let withoutSpecial = removeSpecial(myArray); // ["string other", "test-path"]
The internalals of each function's can be whatever replacements you need it to be or you could replace them with the function you already have. Map is stronger in this situation because it will replace the values in the array, it's used to map the existing values to new corresponding values one to one for every element. On the other hand the forEach solution requires you to create and add elements to a new array, this is better for when you need to do something outside the array itself for every element in the array.
PS. you should check out https://regex101.com/ for help building regular expressions if you want a more complex replacements but you dont really need them for this situation

I realize that the way I wrote my goal isn't exactly clear. I think what I should have said was that given several text strings, I want to strip out some specific characters (quotes, for example), and then output each of those into an array that can be accessed. I have read about arrays, it's just been my experience in learning JS that reading code and actually doing code are two very different things.
So I appreciate the references to documentation, what I really needed to see was a real life example code.
I ended up finding a solution that works:
function escapeData(data) {
return data
.replace(/\r/g, "");
}
var result = {};
result.what_hap_escaped = escapeData($what_hap);
result.desc_injury_escaped = escapeData($desc_injury);
result;
I appreciate everyone's time, and hope I didn't annoy you guys too much with my poorly constructed question :)

example of javascript's eval not being evil?

I read some stackOverflow questions and answers more then ten times per day, and... it looks its first time i feel its okey to post something, as i didnt find accurate enought answer.
Im writing some code in nodeJS. Its web interface for big softswitch based on custom asterisk, where in one place i need to get data from post message from website.
The problem is, that that post message containts numerous info named in fashion:
peer1
peer2
peer3
peer4 etc
Instead of dealing with every single one, i did a loop:
var array = [];
var i = 0;
while (typeof eval("req.body.peer" + i) !== 'undefined' && eval("req.body.peer" + i) !== '') {
console.log('petla wisielca');
//console.log(eval("req.body.peer" + i));
array.push(eval('req.body.peer' + i));
i++;
}
Number filled inputs (actually its html select) is variable.
After creating that array, I deal with rest of things (write peers to file etc) in traditional, non-eval loops.
Am i missing something here, or it's proper way of dealing with such situation?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
Looks like i had some kind brain malfunction :).
Solution is very easy,
as kyle cleared it out, to access object variables and for example iterate, all is needed is to use [].
Solution:
var array = []
var i = 0
while (req.body['peer' + i]) {
array.push(req.body['peer' + i])
i++
}
Thanks once more Kyle.

JavaScript objects can be accessed like they're associative arrays:
var array = []
var i = 0
while (req.body['peer' + i]) {
array.push(req.body['peer' + i])
i++
}

Use of eval is ever evitable, i wrote a plugin that make some dynamic calls of functions, you can check how you can access the object without using eval:
https://github.com/HaSuKrOnOs/jquery-dynFn

How to delete an item from a serialized list?

I make a serialized list (with JQuery) and then want to delete a Parameter/Value pair from the list. What's the best way to do this? My code seems kinda clunky to take care of edge conditions that the Parameter/Value pair might be first, last, or in the middle of the list.
function serializeDeleteItem(strSerialize, strParamName)
{
// Delete Parameter/Value pair from Serialized list
var strRegEx;
var rExp;
strRegEx = "((^[?&]?" + strParamName + "\=[^\&]*[&]?))|([&]" + strParamName + "\=[^\&]*)|(" + strParamName + "\=[^\&]*[&])";
rExp = new RegExp(strRegEx, "i");
strSerialize = strSerialize.replace(rExp, "");
return strSerialize;
}
Examples / Test rig at http://jsfiddle.net/7Awzw/
EDIT: Modified the test rig to preserve any leading "?" or "&" so that function could be used with URL Query String or fragment of serialized string
See: http://jsfiddle.net/7Awzw/5/

This version is longer than yours, but imho it's more maintainable. It will find and remove the serialized parameter regardless of where it is in the list.
Notes:
To avoid problems with removing items in the middle of an array, we iterate in reverse.
For exact matching of parameter names, we expect them to start at the beginning of the split string, and to terminate with =.
Assuming there is just one instance of the given param, we break once it's found. If there may be more, just remove that line.
Code
function serializeDeleteItem(strSerialize, strParamName)
{
var arrSerialize = strSerialize.split("&");
var i = arrSerialize.length;
while (i--) {
if (arrSerialize[i].indexOf(strParamName+"=") == 0) {
arrSerialize.splice(i,1);
break; // Found the one and only, we're outta here.
}
}
return arrSerialize.join("&");
}
This fails a few of your tests - the ones with serialized strings starting with '?' or '&'. If you feel those are valid, then you could do this at the start of the function, and all tests will pass:
if (strSerialize.length && (strSerialize[0] == '?' || strSerialize[0] == '&'))
strSerialize = strSerialize.slice(1);
Performance Comparison
I've put together a test in jsperf to compare the regex approach with this string method. It's reporting that the regex solution is 49% slower than strings, in IE10 on 32-bit Win7.

How to store integer indexed data in Javascript?

I'm coming from working in PHP for many years and having trouble wrapping my head around creating some more complicated data structures in JS for objects that are integer IDed. I need to build an object the stores these simpler objects hierarchically keyed on their integer ids. So if I have the following objectes each of which has a unique integer id:
section, element, item, entry
in php I would do something like
$arr[$section_id][$element_id][$item_id][$entry_id] = $entry;
In javascript this does not work. I know I could technically wrap those IDs in quotes to force it but that seems like a bad idea. Similarly I could create an object and use the quoted integer approach but again that seems hacky.
Right now I am storing the data in regular integer indexed arrays and then using caolan's async detect to look up a particular member by ID. This works but seems extremely messy compared to the php equivalent. I'm hoping there's a cleaner way to do this in JS.
TIA!

since javascript cannot save an array with string index, i use these :
var namespace = function(name, separator, container){
var ns = name.split(separator || '.')
, o = container || window
, i = 0;
while (i++ < ns.length) o = o[ns[i - 1]] = o[ns[i - 1]] || {};
return o;
}
namespace(arr + '.' + section_id + '.' + element_id + '.' + item_id + '.' + entry_id) = entry;
// ex : namespace('arr.1.3.2.6') will product arr.1.3.2.6 object

This is a little ugly, but it will get you pretty close to what you want.
You can add a method to the JavaScript Array class like so:
Array.prototype.g = function(index) {
if (this[index] == undefined) {
this[index] = [];
}
return this[index];
}
Then, to set something you would do this:
var test = [];
test.g(5).g(7)[5] = 1;
Unfortunately, for the last entry you'd have to remember to use the regular notation to set the value.
You would retrieve it like you expect:
test[5][7][5]; //1
Obviously I just pulled g out of thin air, you could come up with your own function name.
Disclaimer: People tend to frown on extending the built in types using the prototype chain, but as far as I know most major frameworks no longer do this so unless you or some third party JS is using the same name to extend Array somewhere else you should be fine.

javascript regex help

i am trying to validate if a certain company was already picked for an application. the companyList format is:
60,261,420 ( a list of companyID)
I used
cID = $('#coName').val().split('::')[1];
to get the id only.
I am calling this function by passing say 60:
findCompany = function(value) {
var v = /^.+60,261,420$/.test(value);
alert(v);
}
when I pass the exact same string, i get false. any help?

Well if your company list is a list of numeric IDs like that, you need to make the resulting regular expression actually be the correct expression — if that's even the way you want to do it.
Another option is to just make an array, and then test for the value being in the array.
As a regex, though, what you could do is this:
var companyList = [<cfoutput> whatever </cfoutput>]; // get company ID list as an array of numbers
var companyRegex = new RegExp("^(?:" + companyList.join('|') + ")$");
Then you can say:
function findCompany(id) {
if (companyRegex.test(id)) alert(id + " is already in the list!");
}

Why not split the string into an array, like you did for your testing, iterate over the list and check if it's in?
A regexp just for that is balls, overhead and slower. A lot.
Anyway, for your specific question:
You’re checking the string "60" for /^.+60,261,420$/.
.+60 will obviously not match because you require at least one character before the 60. The commas also evaluate and are not in your String.
I don’t quite get where your regexp comes from.
Were you looking for a regexp to OR them a hard-coded list of IDs?
Code for splitting it and checking the array of IDs:
findCompany = function(value) {
$('#coName').val().split('::').each(function(val){
if(val == value) return true;
});
return false;
}