Convert string to array JavaScript

Question

I have urlencoded JSON data:

%5B%5B"Task"%2C"Hours%20per%20Day"%5D%2C%5B"Work"%2C11%5D%2C%5B"Eat"%2C2%5D%2C%5B"Commute"%2C2%5D%2C%5B"Watch%20TV"%2C2%5D%2C%5B"Sleep"%2C7%5D%5D 

I have already decoded it to:

"[["Task","Hours per Day"],["Work",11],["Eat",2],["Commute",2],["Watch TV",0.5],["Sleep",7]]"

As you can see, this is a string, not an array, and I am trying to convert it to an array.

Sidenote:

I am making a page which will display charts using Google Charts that is having this problem. All help is welcome!

Answer 1

Use JSON.parse

var jsArray = JSON.parse('[["Task","Hours per Day"],["Work",11],["Eat",2],["Commute",2],["Watch TV",0.5],["Sleep",7]]');
console.log(jsArray[0][0]) // "Task"
console.log(jsArray[0][1]) // "Hours per Day"

Using eval would also work but would expose you to script injection if you are getting that value from an untrusted source, like the URL parameters, which can be spoofed for fishing