Month Array in JavaScript Not Pretty

Question

How can i make it nicer?

var month = new Array();  month['01']='Jan'; month['02']='Feb'; month['03']='Mar'; 

etc. Itd be nice to do it like:

var months = new Array(['01','Jan'],['02','Feb'],['03','Mar']); 

For example. anyway like that to simplify it?

Answer 1

For a more natural approach, try this little snippet. It works with Date objects and just as a regular function:

'use strict';  (function(d){     var mL = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'];     var mS = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'Aug', 'Sept', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'];      d.prototype.getLongMonth = d.getLongMonth = function getLongMonth (inMonth) {         return gM.call(this, inMonth, mL);     }      d.prototype.getShortMonth = d.getShortMonth = function getShortMonth (inMonth) {         return gM.call(this, inMonth, mS);     }      function gM(inMonth, arr){         var m;          if(this instanceof d){             m = this.getMonth();         }         else if(typeof inMonth !== 'undefined') {             m = parseInt(inMonth,10) - 1; // Subtract 1 to start January at zero         }          return arr[m];     } })(Date); 

You can directly copy and paste this, then use it like this:

var today = new Date(); console.log(today.getLongMonth()); console.log(Date.getLongMonth(9));          // September console.log(today.getShortMonth()); console.log(Date.getShortMonth('09'));      // Sept 

This technique will provide flexibility as to how you index and how you access it. When using the Date object it will work correctly, but if using it as a standalone function it considers the months in human readable format from 1-12.

Fiddle with it!