dictionary - How to iterate (keys, values) in JavaScript?

Question

I have a dictionary that has the format of

dictionary = {0: {object}, 1:{object}, 2:{object}}

How can I iterate through this dictionary by doing something like

for ((key, value) in dictionary) {
    //Do stuff where key would be 0 and value would be the object
}

Answer 1

tl;dr

1. In ECMAScript 2017, just call Object.entries(yourObj).
2. In ECMAScript 2015, it is possible with Maps.
3. In ECMAScript 5, it is not possible.

ECMAScript 2017

ECMAScript 2017 introduced a new Object.entries function. You can use this to iterate the object as you wanted.

'use strict';

const object = {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c' : 3};

for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(object)) {
  console.log(key, value);
}

Output

a 1
b 2
c 3

---

ECMAScript 2015

In ECMAScript 2015, there is not Object.entries but you can use Map objects instead and iterate over them with Map.prototype.entries. Quoting the example from that page,

var myMap = new Map();
myMap.set("0", "foo");
myMap.set(1, "bar");
myMap.set({}, "baz");

var mapIter = myMap.entries();

console.log(mapIter.next().value); // ["0", "foo"]
console.log(mapIter.next().value); // [1, "bar"]
console.log(mapIter.next().value); // [Object, "baz"]

Or iterate with for..of, like this

'use strict';

var myMap = new Map();
myMap.set("0", "foo");
myMap.set(1, "bar");
myMap.set({}, "baz");

for (const entry of myMap.entries()) {
  console.log(entry);
}

Output

[ '0', 'foo' ]
[ 1, 'bar' ]
[ {}, 'baz' ]

Or

for (const [key, value] of myMap.entries()) {
  console.log(key, value);
}

Output

0 foo
1 bar
{} baz

---

ECMAScript 5:

No, it's not possible with objects.

You should either iterate with for..in, or Object.keys, like this

for (var key in dictionary) {
    // check if the property/key is defined in the object itself, not in parent
    if (dictionary.hasOwnProperty(key)) {           
        console.log(key, dictionary[key]);
    }
}

Note: The if condition above is necessary only if you want to iterate over the properties which are the dictionary object's very own. Because for..in will iterate through all the inherited enumerable properties.

Or

Object.keys(dictionary).forEach(function(key) {
    console.log(key, dictionary[key]);
});