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Returns a list of the element names in an array variable.

Built-in Function handler[]

Syntax:

keys(<arrayName>)

Examples:

the keys of myArray
repeat with thisItem = 1 to the number of lines in the keys of it
repeat for each line tKey in the keys of tArray
  put tArray[tKey] & return after tArrayContents
end repeat

Use the keys function to manage the elements of an array, or to perform some action on each element in an array.

Parameters:

  • arrayName (array): The name of a variable.
  • Returns:The keys function returns a list of keys, one per line.]]*Note:* The order of the keys is not alphabetical or chronological;]] it is based on the internal order. To obtain an alphabetical list of]] keys, use the sort command:
  • put the keys of myArray into myVariable sort lines of myVariable
  • ]]*Note:* Arrays in LiveCode are associative (also known as hash]] tables). This means that the keys of an array are strings which]] LiveCode uses to "look up" the array elements rather than numeric]] indices as in C, Pascal and other languages. Of course it is possible]] to use numeric values for array keys, but LiveCode will internally]] convert these into strings before retrieving the array elements.

See also: function (control structure),arrayEncode (function),transpose (function),extents (function),keys (function),is among the keys of (operator),properties (property),

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