# String to array - json.parse

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [13 September 2019 07:58 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496 "2019-09-13T07:58:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bakman2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bakman2/32/6207_2.png) [@bakman2](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bakman2)\
**Post date:** [13 September 2019 07:58 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496/1 "2019-09-13T07:58:26Z")

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More related to javascript, but am not able to find a working example (that works in NR).

I extract text from a website, the text is a string, but contains an (multidimensional) array.

Function used to extract the text:

```auto
const regex = /\[(.*?).*\]/gm;
let m;

m = regex.exec(msg.payload)
return {payload:m[0]}

```

Result:

![19](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/a/a0b793e1a81021ef6694693ad29fc16e80f4353d.jpeg)

a string.

Now I thought to use `JSON.parse(m[0])` to parse it as an array, but it doesn't like it:

```auto
"SyntaxError: Unexpected token , in JSON at position 525"

```

What am I missing ?

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**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [13 September 2019 08:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496/2 "2019-09-13T08:00:21Z")

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Can you paste the full string output from debug node into a code section between backticks so we can see what might be happening?

(Your screen shot is cut off and not useful for someone who might try to recreate, copy/paste fix this for you)

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**Author:** ![bakman2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bakman2/32/6207_2.png) [@bakman2](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bakman2)\
**Post date:** [13 September 2019 08:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496/3 "2019-09-13T08:07:45Z")

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Yeah it is a very long output, so I didn't bother.

But your comment triggered me to check the actual array (duh should have started there), ie. is it an array: and it wasn't, it was missing additional `[...]` I was mislead by the initial `[[`, working now, thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [13 September 2019 08:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496/4 "2019-09-13T08:10:47Z")

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Glad I could help 😆

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bakman2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bakman2/32/6207_2.png) [@bakman2](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bakman2)\
**Post date:** [13 September 2019 08:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/string-to-array-json-parse/15496/5 "2019-09-13T08:16:59Z")

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And looking my regex, I strip the `[]` off, I should have known 😩