Question

I’m trying to stringify a multi-array variable into a JSON string in Javascript. The

//i'm using functions from http://www.json.org/json2.js

var info = new Array(max);
for (var i=0; i<max; i++) {
  var coordinate = [25 , 32];
  info[i] = coordinate;
}
var result = JSON.stringify(info);

But result doesn’t look like a JSON string at all. What am I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

You, and many in this question, are confused about the JSON specification. The string you have is a valid JSON array.

From json.org

JSON is built on two structures:

• A collection of name/value pairs. In various languages, this is
  realized as an object, record,
  struct, dictionary, hash table,
  keyed list, or associative array.
• An ordered list of values. In most languages, this is realized as
  an array, vector, list, or
  sequence.

Your example matches the second structure – the ordered list of values.

Also from json.org:

An array is an ordered collection of
values. An array begins with [ (left
bracket) and ends with ] (right
bracket). Values are separated by ,
(comma).

A value can be a string in double
quotes, or a number, or true or false
or null, or an object or an array.
These structures can be nested.

Doesn’t leave much to the imagination. You’ve got a valid JSON array there. Have fun with it. But just to be annoyingly thorough:

From the RFC

RFC 4627, Section 2

2) JSON Grammar

A JSON text is a sequence of
tokens. The set of tokens includes
six structural characters, strings,
numbers, and three literal names.

A JSON text is a serialized object
or array.

  JSON-text = object / array