I have an array of items where they are key value pairs. I want to select one at random, but I do not know how to get the key for a random item in the array. I can use Math.random() to generate a random index but how do i get the key?
Here is the array that I am working with. All I want is to get one of these values randomly but I want to know the name as well as the ID.
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{ "bob": 1, "john": 2, "sam": 3, "tom": 4 } |
While arrays and objects are sort of the same thing in Javascript, the example you are using here is not behaving like a normal array, this is an object and what you are trying to do is access a random property of that object. While this is still possible to do, using a numeric index to access a string key property of an object isn’t going to work for you.
The following code snippet will allow you to access the property name and value for a random property of any javascript object.
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var keys = Object.keys(objectarray); var key = keys[ keys.length * Math.random() << 0]; var value = objectarray[key]; |