Can a wildcard be used to call variables in Javascript?

Question

I have a ton of variables to work with here, with information going back and forth between a form in HTML. The variables need to be global so that they can work across a variety of functions. So here's one sample of the list:

var charDex = 0;
var charEnd = 0;
var charPer = 0;
var charStr = 0;
var charCon = 0;
var charInt = 0;
var charRat = 0;
var charRes = 0;
var charDip = 0;
var charGui = 0;
var charItd = 0;
var charLea = 0;

They start out at zero, data is entered into the form, a button sends the data into a JS function that stores the data, and then sends various information based on said stored data back to the form.

Now, I know I'm able to save some repetition by using functions within functions, which I've done so far. But still, there's a lot going on here. What I want to know is if there's a way to use wildcards and/or string matching to automatically match up data from form input to JS variables? The end result would be something to the effect of:

function updateCharacter(form){
    char* = form.c*.value;
    racial* = form.r*.value;
    mod* = form.m*.value;
    total* = char* + racial* + mod*;
    form.t*.value = total*;
}

In my case, charDex and form.cDex.value (etcetera) have the same suffix, so I figure there's something I can do, I'm just not sure what I'm missing.I thought about using a for loop with an array, but I'm not exactly certain how I could make that work.

Answer 1

No worries!

Just use an object instead.

edit: removing the 'char' variable name previously used, as it's a reserved word.

var chars = {
    Dex: "some text",
    End: 0,
    Per: 2,
    Str: 345,
    Con: "blah blah",
    Int: 0,
    Rat: 0,
    Res: 0,
    Dip: 0,
    Gui: 0,
    Itd: 0,
    Lea: 0
}

You can access the values of each of these using either of the following options:

• chars['Dex']
• chars.Dex

either of these will give you "some text".

---

To iterate over the properties, try this:

for (prop in chars) {
    console.log( prop ); // this will log the name of the property
    console.log( chars[prop] ); // this will log the value
}