Package	flash.utils
Class	public dynamic class Dictionary
Inheritance	Dictionary Object

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9, Flash Lite 4

The Dictionary class lets you create a dynamic collection of properties, which uses strict equality (===) for key comparison. When an object is used as a key, the object's identity is used to look up the object, and not the value returned from calling toString() on it.

The following statements show the relationship between a Dictionary object and a key object:

 var dict = new Dictionary();
 var obj = new Object();
 var key:Object = new Object();
 key.toString = function() { return "key" }
  
 dict[key] = "Letters";
 obj["key"] = "Letters";
  
 dict[key] == "Letters"; // true
 obj["key"] == "Letters"; // true 
 obj[key] == "Letters"; // true because key == "key" is true b/c key.toString == "key"
 dict["key"] == "Letters"; // false because "key" === key is false
 delete dict[key]; //removes the key
 

Note: Objects of the type QName are not valid values for keys in Dictionary object instances. Using a QName data type for a key generates a Reference error.

See also

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