I have a JavaScript object. Is there a built-in or accepted best practice way to get the length of this object?
const myObject = new Object();
myObject["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myObject["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myObject["age"] = 21;
Updated answer
Here's an update as of 2016 and widespread deployment of ES5 and beyond. For IE9+ and all other modern ES5+ capable browsers, you can use Object.keys() so the above code just becomes:
var size = Object.keys(myObj).length;
This doesn't have to modify any existing prototype since Object.keys() is now built-in.
Edit: Objects can have symbolic properties that can not be returned via Object.key method. So the answer would be incomplete without mentioning them.
Symbol type was added to the language to create unique identifiers for object properties. The main benefit of the Symbol type is the prevention of overwrites.
Object.keys or Object.getOwnPropertyNames does not work for symbolic properties. To return them you need to use Object.getOwnPropertySymbols.
var person = {
[Symbol('name')]: 'John Doe',
[Symbol('age')]: 33,
"occupation": "Programmer"
};
const propOwn = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(person);
console.log(propOwn.length); // 1
let propSymb = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(person);
console.log(propSymb.length); // 2
Older answer
The most robust answer (i.e. that captures the intent of what you're trying to do while causing the fewest bugs) would be:
Object.size = function(obj) {
var size = 0,
key;
for (key in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) size++;
}
return size;
};
// Get the size of an object
const myObj = {}
var size = Object.size(myObj);
There's a sort of convention in JavaScript that you don't add things to Object.prototype, because it can break enumerations in various libraries. Adding methods to Object is usually safe, though.
If you know you don't have to worry about hasOwnProperty checks, you can use the Object.keys() method in this way:
Object.keys(myArray).length
Updated: If you're using Underscore.js (recommended, it's lightweight!), then you can just do
_.size({one : 1, two : 2, three : 3});
=> 3
If not, and you don't want to mess around with Object properties for whatever reason, and are already using jQuery, a plugin is equally accessible:
$.assocArraySize = function(obj) {
// http://stackoverflow.com/a/6700/11236
var size = 0, key;
for (key in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) size++;
}
return size;
};
Here's the most cross-browser solution.
This is better than the accepted answer because it uses native Object.keys if exists.
Thus, it is the fastest for all modern browsers.
if (!Object.keys) {
Object.keys = function (obj) {
var arr = [],
key;
for (key in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
arr.push(key);
}
}
return arr;
};
}
Object.keys(obj).length;
Simply use this to get the length:
Object.keys(myObject).length
I'm not a JavaScript expert, but it looks like you would have to loop through the elements and count them since Object doesn't have a length method:
var element_count = 0;
for (e in myArray) { if (myArray.hasOwnProperty(e)) element_count++; }
#palmsey: In fairness to the OP, the JavaScript documentation actually explicitly refer to using variables of type Object in this manner as "associative arrays".
This method gets all your object's property names in an array, so you can get the length of that array which is equal to your object's keys' length.
Object.getOwnPropertyNames({"hi":"Hi","msg":"Message"}).length; // => 2
To not mess with the prototype or other code, you could build and extend your own object:
function Hash(){
var length=0;
this.add = function(key, val){
if(this[key] == undefined)
{
length++;
}
this[key]=val;
};
this.length = function(){
return length;
};
}
myArray = new Hash();
myArray.add("lastname", "Simpson");
myArray.add("age", 21);
alert(myArray.length()); // will alert 2
If you always use the add method, the length property will be correct. If you're worried that you or others forget about using it, you could add the property counter which the others have posted to the length method, too.
Of course, you could always overwrite the methods. But even if you do, your code would probably fail noticeably, making it easy to debug. ;)
We can find the length of Object by using:
const myObject = {};
console.log(Object.values(myObject).length);
Here's how and don't forget to check that the property is not on the prototype chain:
var element_count = 0;
for(var e in myArray)
if(myArray.hasOwnProperty(e))
element_count++;
Here is a completely different solution that will only work in more modern browsers (Internet Explorer 9+, Chrome, Firefox 4+, Opera 11.60+, and Safari 5.1+)
See this jsFiddle.
Setup your associative array class
/**
* #constructor
*/
AssociativeArray = function () {};
// Make the length property work
Object.defineProperty(AssociativeArray.prototype, "length", {
get: function () {
var count = 0;
for (var key in this) {
if (this.hasOwnProperty(key))
count++;
}
return count;
}
});
Now you can use this code as follows...
var a1 = new AssociativeArray();
a1["prop1"] = "test";
a1["prop2"] = 1234;
a1["prop3"] = "something else";
alert("Length of array is " + a1.length);
If you need an associative data structure that exposes its size, better use a map instead of an object.
const myMap = new Map();
myMap.set("firstname", "Gareth");
myMap.set("lastname", "Simpson");
myMap.set("age", 21);
console.log(myMap.size); // 3
Use Object.keys(myObject).length to get the length of object/array
var myObject = new Object();
myObject["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myObject["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myObject["age"] = 21;
console.log(Object.keys(myObject).length); //3
Use:
var myArray = new Object();
myArray["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myArray["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myArray["age"] = 21;
obj = Object.keys(myArray).length;
console.log(obj)
<script>
myObj = {"key1" : "Hello", "key2" : "Goodbye"};
var size = Object.keys(myObj).length;
console.log(size);
</script>
<p id="myObj">The number of <b>keys</b> in <b>myObj</b> are: <script>document.write(size)</script></p>
This works for me:
var size = Object.keys(myObj).length;
For some cases it is better to just store the size in a separate variable. Especially, if you're adding to the array by one element in one place and can easily increment the size. It would obviously work much faster if you need to check the size often.
The simplest way is like this:
Object.keys(myobject).length
Where myobject is the object of what you want the length of.
#palmsey: In fairness to the OP, the JavaScript documentation actually explicitly refer to using variables of type Object in this manner as "associative arrays".
And in fairness to #palmsey he was quite correct. They aren't associative arrays; they're definitely objects :) - doing the job of an associative array. But as regards to the wider point, you definitely seem to have the right of it according to this rather fine article I found:
JavaScript “Associative Arrays” Considered Harmful
But according to all this, the accepted answer itself is bad practice?
Specify a prototype size() function for Object
If anything else has been added to Object .prototype, then the suggested code will fail:
<script type="text/javascript">
Object.prototype.size = function () {
var len = this.length ? --this.length : -1;
for (var k in this)
len++;
return len;
}
Object.prototype.size2 = function () {
var len = this.length ? --this.length : -1;
for (var k in this)
len++;
return len;
}
var myArray = new Object();
myArray["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myArray["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myArray["age"] = 21;
alert("age is " + myArray["age"]);
alert("length is " + myArray.size());
</script>
I don't think that answer should be the accepted one as it can't be trusted to work if you have any other code running in the same execution context. To do it in a robust fashion, surely you would need to define the size method within myArray and check for the type of the members as you iterate through them.
If we have the hash
hash = {"a" : "b", "c": "d"};
we can get the length using the length of the keys which is the length of the hash:
keys(hash).length
Using the Object.entries method to get length is one way of achieving it
const objectLength = obj => Object.entries(obj).length;
const person = {
id: 1,
name: 'John',
age: 30
}
const car = {
type: 2,
color: 'red',
}
console.log(objectLength(person)); // 3
console.log(objectLength(car)); // 2
var myObject = new Object();
myObject["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myObject["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myObject["age"] = 21;
Object.values(myObject).length
Object.entries(myObject).length
Object.keys(myObject).length
What about something like this --
function keyValuePairs() {
this.length = 0;
function add(key, value) { this[key] = value; this.length++; }
function remove(key) { if (this.hasOwnProperty(key)) { delete this[key]; this.length--; }}
}
If you are using AngularJS 1.x you can do things the AngularJS way by creating a filter and using the code from any of the other examples such as the following:
// Count the elements in an object
app.filter('lengthOfObject', function() {
return function( obj ) {
var size = 0, key;
for (key in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) size++;
}
return size;
}
})
Usage
In your controller:
$scope.filterResult = $filter('lengthOfObject')($scope.object)
Or in your view:
<any ng-expression="object | lengthOfObject"></any>
const myObject = new Object();
myObject["firstname"] = "Gareth";
myObject["lastname"] = "Simpson";
myObject["age"] = 21;
console.log(Object.keys(myObject).length)
// o/p 3
A variation on some of the above is:
var objLength = function(obj){
var key,len=0;
for(key in obj){
len += Number( obj.hasOwnProperty(key) );
}
return len;
};
It is a bit more elegant way to integrate hasOwnProp.
If you don't care about supporting Internet Explorer 8 or lower, you can easily get the number of properties in an object by applying the following two steps:
Run either Object.keys() to get an array that contains the names of only those properties that are enumerable or Object.getOwnPropertyNames() if you want to also include the names of properties that are not enumerable.
Get the .length property of that array.
If you need to do this more than once, you could wrap this logic in a function:
function size(obj, enumerablesOnly) {
return enumerablesOnly === false ?
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(obj).length :
Object.keys(obj).length;
}
How to use this particular function:
var myObj = Object.create({}, {
getFoo: {},
setFoo: {}
});
myObj.Foo = 12;
var myArr = [1,2,5,4,8,15];
console.log(size(myObj)); // Output : 1
console.log(size(myObj, true)); // Output : 1
console.log(size(myObj, false)); // Output : 3
console.log(size(myArr)); // Output : 6
console.log(size(myArr, true)); // Output : 6
console.log(size(myArr, false)); // Output : 7
See also this Fiddle for a demo.
Here's a different version of James Cogan's answer. Instead of passing an argument, just prototype out the Object class and make the code cleaner.
Object.prototype.size = function () {
var size = 0,
key;
for (key in this) {
if (this.hasOwnProperty(key)) size++;
}
return size;
};
var x = {
one: 1,
two: 2,
three: 3
};
x.size() === 3;
jsfiddle example: http://jsfiddle.net/qar4j/1/
You can always do Object.getOwnPropertyNames(myObject).length to get the same result as [].length would give for normal array.
You can simply use Object.keys(obj).length on any object to get its length. Object.keys returns an array containing all of the object keys (properties) which can come in handy for finding the length of that object using the length of the corresponding array. You can even write a function for this. Let's get creative and write a method for it as well (along with a more convienient getter property):
function objLength(obj)
{
return Object.keys(obj).length;
}
console.log(objLength({a:1, b:"summit", c:"nonsense"}));
// Works perfectly fine
var obj = new Object();
obj['fish'] = 30;
obj['nullified content'] = null;
console.log(objLength(obj));
// It also works your way, which is creating it using the Object constructor
Object.prototype.getLength = function() {
return Object.keys(this).length;
}
console.log(obj.getLength());
// You can also write it as a method, which is more efficient as done so above
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "length", {get:function(){
return Object.keys(this).length;
}});
console.log(obj.length);
// probably the most effictive approach is done so and demonstrated above which sets a getter property called "length" for objects which returns the equivalent value of getLength(this) or this.getLength()
A nice way to achieve this (Internet Explorer 9+ only) is to define a magic getter on the length property:
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "length", {
get: function () {
return Object.keys(this).length;
}
});
And you can just use it like so:
var myObj = { 'key': 'value' };
myObj.length;
It would give 1.
I'm trying to achieve this structure (a JSON Object with an array inside):
var data = {
page : 'hello',
rows: [
{
column: 'two'
}
]
}
But i'm failing miserable, trying various methods, this is my work in progress code:
var data = new Array();
data['settings'] = [];
var i = 0;
var inputName, value;
for (i; i < inputs.length; i++){
inputName = $(inputs[i]).attr('name');
value = $(inputs[i]).val();
data['settings'][inputName] = value;
}
data['page_id'] = page_id;
So i know the variable names are not the same as the desired example but you get the general gist! At the moment, its just making data an empty array. But i need to make it a JSON object with the idea to send it to a server.
What you've quoted is a JavaScript object with a JavaScript array in it, no JSON* in sight.
To create it, I don't think you want an array at all, just an object with a nested object:
var data = {
settings: {},
page_id: page_id
};
var i, input;
for (i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++){
input = $(inputs[i]);
data.settings[input.attr('name')] = input.val();
}
That works because JavaScript objects are maps of name/value pairs. You can refer to a property of an object using dotted notation and a literal property name:
x = obj.foo;
...or using bracketed notation and a string name:
x = obj["foo"];
In the latter case, you can use any expression you like for the string, so for instance:
x = obj["f" + "o" + "o"];
JavaScript also has literal object initializers, which you can use to create an object with properties already on it:
obj = {foo: "bar"};
That creates an object with a property called foo with the value "bar" and assigns the object to the obj variable.
So looking again at the code block above:
We create an object with the properties settings and page_id. settings is initialized with a blank object; page_id is initialized with the value of the page_id variable.
Then we loop through your inputs and add properties to settings using the name of each input, setting the value of the property to be the value of the input.
So let's assume we have
<input name="oneField" value="bar">
<input name="anotherField" value="bang">
<input name="yetAnotherField" value="cool">
...and let's assume page_id is 3.
We'll end up with this structure in the object referenced by the data variable:
{
settings: {
oneField: "bar",
anotherField: "bang",
yetAnotherField: "cool"
},
page_id: page_id
}
* JSON is a textual notation. When you're writing things like var data = { ... }; in code, you're just using JavaScript. JSON is a subset of JavaScript literal syntax that's designed to be easy to parse, so for instance it's handy for storing arbitrary complex data in data stores, or for retrieving data from a server. You retrieve the string, which contains the data, and then parse that string to build up an object structure in memory.
var data = {};
data['settings'] = {};
var i = 0;
var inputName, value;
for (i; i < inputs.length; i++){
inputName = $(inputs[i]).attr('name');
value = $(inputs[i]).val();
data['settings'][inputName] = value;
}
data['page_id'] = page_id;
This will give you such result like below:
{
page_id: 12345,
setting: { foo: 'one', bar: 'two'}
}
Both [] and new Array() are used to initialize an array; what you're after (as you're trying to map keys to values), are objects; which are initialized using either {} or new Object().
var data = {};
data['settings'] = {};
var i = 0;
var inputName, value;
for (i; i < inputs.length; i++){
inputName = $(inputs[i]).attr('name');
value = $(inputs[i]).val();
data['settings'][inputName] = value;
}
data['page_id'] = page_id;
To help you with your syntax, square bracket notation is only needed if the member you're looking up is a variable, or if the key contains reserved words or special characters (spaces etc). Otherwise, you can use dot notation;
var data = {};
data.settings = {};
var i = 0;
var inputName, value;
for (i; i < inputs.length; i++){
inputName = $(inputs[i]).attr('name');
value = $(inputs[i]).val();
data.settings[inputName] = value;
}
data.page_id = page_id;
When using object literal syntax ({}) to construct an object, you are allowed to define members on the object as well. It's also more common to declare your looping variable within the for loop rather than outside.
var data = {
settings: {}
};
var inputName, value;
for (var i=0; i < inputs.length; i++){
inputName = $(inputs[i]).attr('name');
value = $(inputs[i]).val();
data.settings[inputName] = value;
}
data.page_id = page_id;
This question already has answers here:
JavaScript hashmap equivalent
(17 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
How can you create the JavaScript/JQuery equivalent of this Java code:
Map map = new HashMap(); //Doesn't not have to be a hash map, any key/value map is fine
map.put(myKey1, myObj1);
map.put(myKey2, myObj2); //Repeat n times
function Object get(k) {
return map.get(k);
}
Edit: Out of date answer, ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) standard javascript has a Map implementation, read here for more info: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Map
var map = new Object(); // or var map = {};
map[myKey1] = myObj1;
map[myKey2] = myObj2;
function get(k) {
return map[k];
}
//map[myKey1] == get(myKey1);
Just use plain objects:
var map = { key1: "value1", key2: "value2" }
function get(k){
return map[k];
}
function Map() {
this.keys = new Array();
this.data = new Object();
this.put = function (key, value) {
if (this.data[key] == null) {
this.keys.push(key);
}
this.data[key] = value;
};
this.get = function (key) {
return this.data[key];
};
this.remove = function (key) {
this.keys.remove(key);
this.data[key] = null;
};
this.each = function (fn) {
if (typeof fn != 'function') {
return;
}
var len = this.keys.length;
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
var k = this.keys[i];
fn(k, this.data[k], i);
}
};
this.entrys = function () {
var len = this.keys.length;
var entrys = new Array(len);
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
entrys[i] = {
key: this.keys[i],
value: this.data[i]
};
}
return entrys;
};
this.isEmpty = function () {
return this.keys.length == 0;
};
this.size = function () {
return this.keys.length;
};
}
This is an old question, but because the existing answers could be very dangerous, I wanted to leave this answer for future folks who might stumble in here...
The answers based on using an Object as a HashMap are broken and can cause extremely nasty consequences if you use anything other than a String as the key. The problem is that Object properties are coerced to Strings using the .toString method. This can lead to the following nastiness:
function MyObject(name) {
this.name = name;
};
var key1 = new MyObject("one");
var key2 = new MyObject("two");
var map = {};
map[key1] = 1;
map[key2] = 2;
If you were expecting that Object would behave in the same way as a Java Map here, you would be rather miffed to discover that map only contains one entry with the String key [object Object]:
> JSON.stringify(map);
{"[object Object]": 2}
This is clearly not a replacement for Java's HashMap. Bizarrely, given it's age, Javascript does not currently have a general purpose map object. There is hope on the horizon, though: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Map although a glance at the Browser Compatability table there will show that this isn't ready to used in general purpose web apps yet.
In the meantime, the best you can do is:
Deliberately use Strings as keys. I.e. use explicit strings as keys rather than relying on the implicit .toString-ing of the keys you use.
Ensure that the objects you are using as keys have a well-defined .toString() method that suits your understanding of uniqueness for these objects.
If you cannot/don't want to change the .toString of the key Objects, when storing and retrieving the entries, convert the objects to a string which represents your understanding of uniqueness. E.g. map[toUniqueString(key1)] = 1
Sometimes, though, that is not possible. If you want to map data based on, for example File objects, there is no reliable way to do this because the attributes that the File object exposes are not enough to ensure its uniqueness. (You may have two File objects that represent different files on disk, but there is no way to distinguish between them in JS in the browser). In these cases, unfortunately, all that you can do is refactor your code to eliminate the need for storing these in a may; perhaps, by using an array instead and referencing them exclusively by index.
var map = {'myKey1':myObj1, 'mykey2':myObj2};
// You don't need any get function, just use
map['mykey1']
If you're not restricted to JQuery, you can use the prototype.js framework. It has a class called Hash: You can even use JQuery & prototype.js together. Just type jQuery.noConflict();
var h = new Hash();
h.set("key", "value");
h.get("key");
h.keys(); // returns an array of keys
h.values(); // returns an array of values
I am trying to remove an element from a Javascript associtive array using the value to find it, but I am having trouble. I have tried splice and JQuery's grep method and neither have worked for me. This is what I currently have.
var array_path = new Array();
function bulk_upload(){
var temp_array = new Object();
for (var i = 1; i<8; i++){
temp_array[i] = $('#path' + i).val();
if(temp_array[i]!='' && temp_array[i]!=null){
array_path['path' + i] = $('#path' + i).val();
}
}
process_txt();
}
function process_txt(){
//alert(array_path.indexOf(full_path)); //returns nothing
var removed_element = array_path.splice(getKey(array_path), 1);
//array_path = $.grep(array_path, function(val) { return val != full_path; });
alert(removed_element);//return nothing, just blank alert box
}
function getKey(data) {
for (var prop in data)
return prop;
}
The way to do this is to use the delete operator.
delete array_path[getKey(array_path)]
Some Background Information
In JavaScript, almost everything descends from Object.prototype. JavaScript, being an open and dynamic language allows you to create/modify properties of objects by simple assignment. This is very similar to what an associative array -- a structure that contains keyed values.
Under the hood an array is just an object that descends from Array.prototype with numeric keys and a special property called length. The length property just returns one greater than the highest numeric property. In essence, an Array is an object with different semantics.
If you're wanting an associative array then Array is not the object you want to descend from. You would want to descend directly from Object. There are two ways to do that, you could either use the new operator or an empty object literal. The syntax for both is below:
var o = new Object();
var o = {};
The second is preferred since it's a little bit more concise.
I wrote a blog post about this a while back, have a look if you want a little bit more info.
There is no such thing in JavaScript as an "associative array" per se. The data structure which corresponds to this concept is simply a JavaScript Object.
Of course, a JavaScript Array (like essentially everything in JavaScript) is an Object, but one with additional capabilities. So you can use an Array as a key-value map, but it's really not the correct structure for that.
To remove a key from an Object, you just do something like this:
var myObj = {};
var myKey = "blah";
myObj[myKey] = 1234; // Adds or updates value for "blah" to 1234.
delete myObj[myKey]; // Removes key-value pair for "blah".
Have you tried delete hash.someKey; ?
You can give your object a remove method, or use apply or call to use another object's remove method, if defined.
function myObj(members){
for(var p in members) this[p]= members[p];
}
myObj.prototype.remove= function(val){
for(var p in this){
if(this[p]=== val) delete this[p];
}
return this;
}
myObj.prototype.toString= function(){
var A= [];;
for(var p in this){
if(this.hasOwnProperty(p)){
A.push(p+':'+this[p])
}
}
return '{'+A.join(', ')+'}';
}
var O= new myObj({a: 1, b: 10, c: 100});
alert(O)
O.remove(10);
alert(O)
I'm not psychic, so I can only guess that you wanted to accomplish something like this:
var paths = [];
function getPaths() {
for(var i = 1; i < 8; ++i) {
var value = $('#path' + i).val();
if(value) paths.push(value);
}
}
function process() {
var firstPath = paths.shift();
// do stuff
}
getPaths();
if(paths.length) process();