Why is a string returned instead of an array?

Question

JavaScript

Hello, why is a string returned and not an array?

var cart = [
           {id: '1', name: 'gel1', photo: '1.png', price: '1.50'},
           {id: '2', name: 'gel2', photo: '2.png', price: '2.50'},
      ];
        $.cookie('cart',  JSON.stringify(cart));

I created a cookie with a multidimensional array, got it like this and decided to iterate

let cart = $.cookie('cart');
        if (cart != undefined) {
            for (var i = 0; i < cart.length; i++) {
                alert(cart[i]);
            }
        }

But instead of an array, the variable cart contains a string that iterates not by elements, but by characters.
Tried to do so But in this case it does not work at all, since js itself has already reformatted the string. How can I get not a string, but an array?

var cart = JSON.parse($.cookie('name'));

Answer 1

Maybe because you yourself turn the array into a string with this call?JSON.stringify(cart)

Answer 2

const cart = JSON.parse($.cookie('cart'));