Question

Is it possible to call a function by using the strings ?

(i.e) I have a variable var target = 'next';. Using this string I want to call the jquery method next() . Should i use target + '()' (this is bit foolish) to call next() ?

I know it can be done using conditional statements. Since it is a string got from users, but it is difficult to use conditional statements for all that.

In my jQuery plugin, users will pass the value prev, siblings etc as options, so that the respective jQuery methods will be executed.

How do I implement this ?

Answer 1

You can use the bracket notation to access the member with a string containing the identifier:

var target = 'next';
$("foobar")[target]();    // identical to $("foobar").next()