Question

149

Why is my .data() function returning [ instead of the first value of my array?

rated 0 times [ 151] [ 2] / answers: 1 / hits: 96658 / 13 Years ago, fri, may 20, 2011, 12:00:00

I want to pass an array into a jQuery data attribute on the server side and then retrieve it like so:

var stuff = $('div').data('stuff');

alert(stuff[0]);

<script src=https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js></script>

<div data-stuff=['a','b','c']></div>

Why does this appear to alert '[' and not 'a' (see JSFiddle link)

JSFiddle Link: http://jsfiddle.net/ktw4v/3/

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answered 13 Years ago kourtney · Accepted Answer

It's treating your variable as a string, the zeroth element of which is [.

This is happening because your string is not valid JSON, which should use double-quotes as a string delimiter instead of single quotes. You'll then have to use single-quotes to delimit the entire attribute value.

If you fix your quotation marks your original code works (see http://jsfiddle.net/ktw4v/12/)

<div data-stuff='[a,b,c]'> </div>



var stuff = $('div').data('stuff');

When jQuery sees valid JSON in a data attribute it will automatically unpack it for you.