Can you change the same property for more than one variable with one line of code in Javascript?

Question

If I have many variables with the same property x, for example,

a.x
b.x
c.x

Can I change the value of x for all these variables at one time? Something like:

*.x = 200; // Change the value of "x" in every variable that has a property "x" to 200.

Is it possible? And if so, how?

Uh, what? What does *`"every variable that has x to 200"`* mean? — adeneo, Aug 11 '14 at 07:27
It means whatever this is: var example = { this: 0, andThis: 1 } — user3055828, Aug 11 '14 at 07:32
@user3055828 can you check my edit to see if it is accurate? — metacubed, Aug 11 '14 at 07:36
No, there's really no way to do that, as there is no `*.x` or anything like it. You can iterate and check for properties etc. you can set two variables to the same value, but there's no asterisk selector. — adeneo, Aug 11 '14 at 07:43

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

0

No. You can't set multiple variables of the same type at once using a wildcard like you propose.

You can concatenate statements though like this:

left.x = right.x = 200;

Or use a list or dictionary like object in javascript and iterate over every key that matches.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

Community

1
1

answered Aug 11 '14 at 07:30

Patrick Hofman

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 11 '14 at 07:46

If you gather your variables inside a common object like so:

var points = { a: { x: 1, y: 2}, b: { x: 3, y: 4 }, c: {x: 5, y, 6 }

then it can almost be done (minus the neat wildcard notation). Here's a function that should fit your need:

function setPropertyForAll(container, propName, newValue) {
    for (var key in container) {
        if (container.hasOwnProperty(key) && container[key] !== null && container[key].hasOwnProperty(propName)) {
            container[key][propName] = newValue;
        }
    }
}

Usage:

setPropertyForAll(points, "x", 42);

Can you change the same property for more than one variable with one line of code in Javascript?

2 Answers2