are there dictionaries in javascript like python?

This is an old post, but I thought I should provide an illustrated answer anyway.

Use javascript's object notation. Like so:

states_dictionary={ 
     "CT":["alex","harry"], 
     "AK":["liza","alex"], 
     "TX":["fred", "harry"]
};

And to access the values:

states_dictionary.AK[0] //which is liza

or you can use javascript literal object notation, whereby the keys not require to be in quotes:

states_dictionary={ 
     CT:["alex","harry"], 
     AK:["liza","alex"], 
     TX:["fred", "harry"]
};

In ECMAScript 6, the official Map object has been introduced, which is a dictionary implementation:

let dict = new Map();
dict.set("foo", "bar");

//returns "bar"
dict.get("foo");

Unlike javascript's normal objects, it allows any object as a key using identity comparison:

let foo = {};
let bar = {};
let dict = new Map();
dict.set(foo, "Foo");
dict.set(bar, "Bar");

//returns "Bar"
dict.get(bar);

//returns "Foo"
dict.get(foo);

//returns undefined, as {} !== foo and {} !== bar
dict.get({});

There is no way to have a user defined key comparator, so if you do not desire identity comparison, you are still stuck with only using number or string keys like with a normal object.


There were no real associative arrays in Javascript until 2015 (release of ECMAScript 6). Since then you can use the Map object as Robocat states. Look up the details in MDN. Example:

let map = new Map();
map.set('key', {'value1', 'value2'});
let values = map.get('key');

Without support for ES6 you can try using objects:

var x = new Object();
x["Key"] = "Value";

However with objects it is not possible to use typical array properties or methods like array.length. At least it is possible to access the "object-array" in a for-in-loop.