how to fetch array keys with jQuery?

Question

Good afternoon. I have an array with some keys, and values in them. I then need to fetch the array keys and not the data in them. I want to do this with jQuery. I know for e

Answer 1

Use an object (key/value pairs, the nearest JavaScript has to an associative array) for this and not the array object. Other than that, I believe that is the most elegant way

var foo = {};
foo['alfa'] = "first item";
foo['beta'] = "second item";

for (var key in foo) {
        console.log(key);
}

Note: JavaScript doesn't guarantee any particular order for the properties. So you cannot expect the property that was defined first to appear first, it might come last.

EDIT:

In response to your comment, I believe that this article best sums up the cases for why arrays in JavaScript should not be used in this fashion -

• "Associative Arrays" considered Harmful