How to convert a string with arrays to an array [duplicate]

Question

How do I convert this piece of response into a valid array?
I want to perform an Object.map on the data:

var user_roles = "['store_owner', 'super_admin']";

This is not a valid JSON so I can't use JSON.parse

Answer 1

Right, most answers posted here suggest using JSON.parse and then get downvoted 3 times before getting deleted. What people overlook here is the lack of JSON-compliant quotation. The string IS, however, valid JavaScript. You can do the following:

const obj = {
  thing: "['store_owner', 'super_admin']",
  otherThing: "['apple', 'cookies']"
}

for (const key in obj) {
  const value = obj[key];
  obj[key] = eval(value);
}

console.log(obj);

Output will be a valid javascript object:

{"thing":["store_owner","super_admin"],"otherThing":["apple","cookies"]} 

Be careful with eval(), though! javascript eval() and security

You can try it here: https://es6console.com/jjqvrnhg/