Question

Can anyone think of a nicer solution for restructuring a variable a so that it becomes a plain object that contains its former value? I hate to do it like this, I’d rather prefer a one-line, but it must be still readable.

a = "somevalue"
b = "somekey"

tmp = a
a = {}
a[b] = tmp

Let me rephrase that: the desired (and from above code: the actual) result is this:

a = { "somekey": "somevalue" }

Is there a different = shorter way to achieve this when “somekey” and “somevalue” are actually variables band a?

Answer 1

Here you go…

(a = (b = [a, b, {}])[2])[b[1]] = b[0];

can’t say I’d recommend it though.

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Maybe this is a tiny bit better…

(a = (b = [a, b], {}))[b[1]] = b[0];

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Certainly not shorter than what you have.

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A little easier to read perhaps, and still getting shorter

(b = [a, b], a = {})[b[1]] = b[0];