Associative Array does not work with eval() JavaScript

Question

I am generating a data expressed as a Python dictionary which is dumped using simplejson via url which is in this format.

{"2": "London", "3": "Tokyo", "4": "Sydney"}

I am using $.get and storing into a variable data. However eval(data) does not generate an Associative Array. Actually throws up an error. What is the problem? What is the solution?

Edit: I have shared the code http://dpaste.com/570901/

Answer 1

We need to see more code...

var x = '{"2": "London", "3": "Tokyo", "4": "Sydney"}';

eval('var y = ' + x);
      // or
var y = eval('(' + x + ')');

console.log(y);
console.log(y["2"]);

The above works just fine. What exactly are you doing/not doing?

PS: You shouldn't use eval for this regardless, but it's important to know how it works.

Answer 2

Your error is because a { at the beggining of a statement is read as a code block (like the kind you use in ifs and fors) and not as an object literal. You can put parenthesis around for the eval to do as you want:

eval('(' + str + ')');

Of course, eval is evil and you should use something like JSON.parse instead. Most new browsers have this and it is not only safer but faster.