Question

I have got 2 javascript variables:

var list1 = "john doe|bill williams|poll bregg|michael jordan";
var list2 = "analytic|trader|doctor|athlete";

We have to take in mind, that relations between this two variables are that names and professions are placed in the same order, eg. poll bregg is a doctor, but john doe is an analytic.

Than I need to create a function, which is going give me 2nd variable value based on 1st variable selected value. For example:

function getProfession(name){
    ...
    return profession;
}

Can you suggest a solution or give a clue?!
Perhaps I have to use array of array or smth like this?!

Answer 1

You may find it easier to use the hashtable nature of JavaScript objects instead:

var professions = {};              // our hashtable

var list1 = "john doe|bill williams|poll bregg|michael jordan".split('|');
var list2 = "analytic|trader|doctor|athlete".split('|');

for (var i = 0; i < list1.length; i++) {
   professions[list1[i]] = list2[i];
}

Then you can get the professions by using the subscript syntax:

alert(professions['john doe']);    // returns "analytic"