string to two dimensional array

Question

i would like to convert this string:

'[
  ['Row1 of first array', 'Row2 of first array'],
  ['Row1 of 2nd array', 'Row2 of 2nd array']  
]'

Into an array with three arrays of one dimension and two items.

My expected output is an array with 2 elements:

• Array 1
• Array 2

And every array has two elements inside.

Is there any in Jquery to do this conversion?

Answer 1

That's not a valid string -- you're nesting single quotes inside of single quotes. However, if you convert the string into one using double quotes on the inside:

str = '[  ["Row1 of first array", "Row2 of first array"],  ["Row1 of 2nd array", "Row2 of 2nd array"]  ]'

then you could simply parse it as a JSON object:

arr = $.parseJSON(str); // returns a two-dimensional array

This is far, FAR safer than using eval , which should only be done when you know EXACTLY what's inside the string, and even then, it's a sign of a lazy developer. When using parseJSON , you know that you're getting either an object or an array when you're done -- when using eval , anything might happen.

Answer 2

I guess eval will work:

var str = eval("[['Row1 of first array', 'Row2 of first array'],['Row1 of 2nd array', 'Row2 of 2nd array']]");

console.log(str);

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