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![Richard Verbraak](https://uploads.teamtreehouse.com/production/profile-photos/10708861/micro_ether.jpg)
Richard Verbraak
7,739 PointsAccessing objects with . and []
I'm confused as to how you can access an objects property / key with the 2 different methods.
Example from FCC where I just changed the first key name for testing.
var testObj = {
name: "hamburger",
"my side": "veggies",
"the drink": "water"
};
var entreeValue = testObj.name;
console.log(entreeValue);
This logs hamburger for me which I get but why is it that I get undefined back when I use test.Obj[1]. Shouldn't this return hamburger which is indexed on 1?
I thought objects were similiar to arrays? Do they not have an index like an array? Or am I just confusing the 2 because I'm not sure when you would use an array over objects or vice-versa.
I'd appreciate it A LOT if someone could clear the differences up.
1 Answer
![Steven Parker](https://uploads.teamtreehouse.com/production/profile-photos/969492/micro_tool_chess_set_2.jpg)
Steven Parker
230,688 PointsUsing the bracket notation for attribute access might look like indexing but it's a bit different. Instead of using a numeric index as with arrays, brackets for accessing attributes contain the name of the attribute as a string.
So the bracket equvalent of testObj.name
would be testObj["name"]
.