Length of an Array of String in JavaScript

Question

In the following JavaScript code snippet, I expect that the console output be 3 but in both Chrome and Mozilla, it is 23. Why?

var status = ["Busy", "Preferred", "Available"];        
console.log( status.length);

Yes, whatever you assign to window.status gets converted into a string. — techfoobar
– techfoobar, Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 1:36
@ryanpcmcquen - In your JSfiddle, status isn't a global variable, but a local one inside the window.onload event handler function. Hence it works. — techfoobar
– techfoobar, Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 1:44
Good point @techfoobar, as Stefan Baiu said, OP should put this variable in some kind of function. Using global variables should be avoided if possible. — ryanpcmcquen
– ryanpcmcquen, Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 1:46

score 5 · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-11 01:47:10Z

5

There's already a window.status (a global variable named status). Read more here.

When you're trying to set the array ["Busy", "Preferred", "Available"] to your global variable, the window.status setter will be invoked. So, window.status property will contain the string "Busy,Preferred,Available".

So, yeah change the variable name or don't use global variables (please).

edited Sep 11, 2015 at 1:47

answered Sep 11, 2015 at 1:41

user2844991

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Comments

Luiz · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-11 01:36:40Z

2

Looks like status is a reserved variable from Chrome and Firefox, try use another variable name.

answered Sep 11, 2015 at 1:36

Luiz

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