$.inArray issues with passing string from php script

I'm having a problem with the inArray function not sure why. I'm passing a string back to the Javascript from my PHP it looks something like this 22,24 ect. I've tried using the split com开发者_开发问答mand to convert it to a Javascript array and I've tried it just as is. Either way the inArray function isn't finding 22, I've tried 22 with and without speak marks in the inArray function.

$.ajax({
           url: "<?=base_url(); ?>/products/update_dropdown/"+<?=$product['product_id']?>+"/"+strUser,
           type: 'GET',
           success: function(msg) {
              var test;
              test = $.inArray(22, msg);
              alert(test);

            }

       });

Thank you for any help this is really driving me nuts!

---

So from your comments it looks like the problem is that there is whitespace before the number 22 in your string ([" 22", "24"]).

You can run:

msg = msg.replace(/\s/g, '').split(',');
test = $.inArray('22', msg);

See http://jsfiddle.net/KAdRD/ for a worked example.

---

 var test = "22,24,25";

 test = test.split(",")

 test = $.inArray(22+'', test); // explicitly convert search to string.
 alert(test);  // alerts index of found element.

http://jsfiddle.net/s3X8V/1/

---

I tried this out, this would return 1 for a match, -1 for no match:

    var string = "33,34,35"; 
    var test = $.inArray("34",string.split(","));
    alert(test);

I'm guessing your return type may not be a string? Like the comment said try logging the variable or maybe the typeof

---

What about using indexOf function? If the variable set from PHP to JS is a string, you can use it this way:

if(msg.indexof('22', 0) != -1) {
    // this is the case when 22 is a part of msg...
} else {
    // this is the case when 22 is not present in msg...
}

Or is there any need of array from msg? Then I advise use of pure JS split() function:

test = msg.split(".");

Then You can call $.inArray().

---

Obviously the value returned from php isn't an array in javascript. Its returned as a string.

$.ajax({
           url: "<?=base_url(); ?>/products/update_dropdown/"+<?=$product['product_id']?>+"/"+strUser,
           type: 'GET',
           success: function(msg) {
              var test;
              test = msg.search(/22/i)
              alert(test);

            }
       });

Or something like that

If you dont want to search string values you must split the msg string to an array and search the newly formed array instead.