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object.property vs object["property"]

Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Category
JavaScript
Created
10 Jun, 2020
In this post, we will see the differences between declaring and accessing the object property with and without quotes:
const obj = { key: 'value' };
obj.key;

// Or
const obj = { key: 'value' };
obj['key'];

Differences

  1. If the property name is a numeric literal, then you might to use different key to access the property value.
    const obj = { 12e34: 'hello' };

    console.log(obj['1.2e34']); // undefined
    console.log(obj['1.2e+35']); // 'hello'
    Wrapping the property with quotes will help us avoid the problem:
    const obj = { '12e34': 'hello' };

    console.log(obj['12e34']); // 'hello'
  2. If the property is one of reserved keywords, then we have to use with quotes to access the property value.
    const styles = { class: 'foo' };

    // Will throw an exception because class is a reserved keyword
    styles[class];

    // returns 'foo'
    styles['class'];
    The same thing happens with the property contains special characters such as `-`.

See also

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Phước Nguyễn