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How to convert object to encoded query string [duplicate]

Is there a fast and simple way to encode a JavaScript object into a string that I can pass via a GET request?
No jQuery, no other frameworks—just plain JavaScript :)

Like this:
serialize = function(obj) {
var str = [];
for (var p in obj)
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
str.push(encodeURIComponent(p) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(obj[p]));
}
return str.join("&");
}
console.log(serialize({
foo: "hi there",
bar: "100%"
}));
// foo=hi%20there&bar=100%25
This one also converts recursive objects (using PHP "array" notation for the query string):
serialize = function(obj, prefix) {
var str = [],
p;
for (p in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
var k = prefix ? prefix + "[" + p + "]" : p,
v = obj[p];
str.push((v !== null && typeof v === "object") ?
serialize(v, k) :
encodeURIComponent(k) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(v));
}
}
return str.join("&");
}
console.log(serialize({
foo: "hi there",
bar: {
blah: 123,
quux: [1, 2, 3]
}
}));
// foo=hi%20there&bar%5Bblah%5D=123&bar%5Bquux%5D%5B0%5D=1&bar%5Bquux%5D%5B1%5D=2&bar%5Bquux%5D%5B2%5D=3

Just use URLSearchParams This works in all current browsers
new URLSearchParams(object).toString()

jQuery has a function for this, jQuery.param(). If you're already using it, you can use this:
Example:
var params = { width:1680, height:1050 };
var str = jQuery.param( params );
str now contains width=1680&height=1050.

I suggest using the URLSearchParams interface:
const searchParams = new URLSearchParams();
const params = {foo: "hi there", bar: "100%" };
Object.keys(params).forEach(key => searchParams.append(key, params[key]));
console.log(searchParams.toString())
Or by passing the search object into the constructor like this:
const params = {foo: "hi there", bar: "100%" };
const queryString = new URLSearchParams(params).toString();
console.log(queryString);

Use:
Object.keys(obj).reduce(function(a,k){a.push(k+'='+encodeURIComponent(obj[k]));return a},[]).join('&')
I like this one-liner, but I bet it would be a more popular answer if it matched the accepted answer semantically:
function serialize( obj ) {
let str = '?' + Object.keys(obj).reduce(function(a, k){
a.push(k + '=' + encodeURIComponent(obj[k]));
return a;
}, []).join('&');
return str;
}

Here's a one liner in ES6:
Object.keys(obj).map(k => `${encodeURIComponent(k)}=${encodeURIComponent(obj[k])}`).join('&');

With Node.js v6.6.3
const querystring = require('querystring')
const obj = {
foo: 'bar',
baz: 'tor'
}
let result = querystring.stringify(obj)
// foo=bar&baz=tor
Reference: Query string

Ruby on Rails and PHP style query builder
This method converts a JavaScript object into a URI query string. It also handles nested arrays and objects (in Ruby on Rails and PHP syntax):
function serializeQuery(params, prefix) {
const query = Object.keys(params).map((key) => {
const value = params[key];
if (params.constructor === Array)
key = `${prefix}[]`;
else if (params.constructor === Object)
key = (prefix ? `${prefix}[${key}]` : key);
if (typeof value === 'object')
return serializeQuery(value, key);
else
return `${key}=${encodeURIComponent(value)}`;
});
return [].concat.apply([], query).join('&');
}
Example Usage:
let params = {
a: 100,
b: 'has spaces',
c: [1, 2, 3],
d: { x: 9, y: 8}
}
serializeQuery(params)
// returns 'a=100&b=has%20spaces&c[]=1&c[]=2&c[]=3&d[x]=9&d[y]=8

A small amendment to the accepted solution by user187291:
serialize = function(obj) {
var str = [];
for(var p in obj){
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
str.push(encodeURIComponent(p) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(obj[p]));
}
}
return str.join("&");
}
Checking for hasOwnProperty on the object makes JSLint and JSHint happy, and it prevents accidentally serializing methods of the object or other stuff if the object is anything but a simple dictionary. See the paragraph on for statements on Code Conventions for the JavaScript Programming Language.

Well, everyone seems to put his one-liner here so here goes mine:
const encoded = Object.entries(obj).map(([k, v]) => `${k}=${encodeURIComponent(v)}`).join("&");

If you need to send arbitrary objects, then GET is a bad idea since there are limits to the lengths of URLs that user agents and web servers will accepts. My suggestion would be to build up an array of name-value pairs to send and then build up a query string:
function QueryStringBuilder() {
var nameValues = [];
this.add = function(name, value) {
nameValues.push( {name: name, value: value} );
};
this.toQueryString = function() {
var segments = [], nameValue;
for (var i = 0, len = nameValues.length; i < len; i++) {
nameValue = nameValues[i];
segments[i] = encodeURIComponent(nameValue.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(nameValue.value);
}
return segments.join("&");
};
}
var qsb = new QueryStringBuilder();
qsb.add("veg", "cabbage");
qsb.add("vegCount", "5");
alert( qsb.toQueryString() );

A little bit look better
objectToQueryString(obj, prefix) {
return Object.keys(obj).map(objKey => {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(objKey)) {
const key = prefix ? `${prefix}[${objKey}]` : objKey;
const value = obj[objKey];
return typeof value === "object" ?
this.objectToQueryString(value, key) :
`${encodeURIComponent(key)}=${encodeURIComponent(value)}`;
}
return null;
}).join("&");
}

This one skips null/undefined values
export function urlEncodeQueryParams(data) {
const params = Object.keys(data).map(key => data[key] ? `${encodeURIComponent(key)}=${encodeURIComponent(data[key])}` : '');
return params.filter(value => !!value).join('&');
}

Here's the CoffeeScript version of the accepted answer.
serialize = (obj, prefix) ->
str = []
for p, v of obj
k = if prefix then prefix + "[" + p + "]" else p
if typeof v == "object"
str.push(serialize(v, k))
else
str.push(encodeURIComponent(k) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(v))
str.join("&")

Here's a concise & recursive version with Object.entries. It handles arbitrarily nested arrays, but not nested objects. It also removes empty elements:
const format = (k,v) => v !== null ? `${k}=${encodeURIComponent(v)}` : ''
const to_qs = (obj) => {
return [].concat(...Object.entries(obj)
.map(([k,v]) => Array.isArray(v)
? v.map(arr => to_qs({[k]:arr}))
: format(k,v)))
.filter(x => x)
.join('&');
}
E.g.:
let json = {
a: [1, 2, 3],
b: [], // omit b
c: 1,
d: "test&encoding", // uriencode
e: [[4,5],[6,7]], // flatten this
f: null, // omit nulls
g: 0
};
let qs = to_qs(json)
=> "a=1&a=2&a=3&c=1&d=test%26encoding&e=4&e=5&e=6&e=7&g=0"

Use:
const toQueryString = obj => "?".concat(Object.keys(obj).map(e => `${encodeURIComponent(e)}=${encodeURIComponent(obj[e])}`).join("&"));
const data = {
offset: 5,
limit: 10
};
toQueryString(data); // => ?offset=5&limit=10
Or use a predefined feature
const data = {
offset: 5,
limit: 10
};
new URLSearchParams(data).toString(); // => ?offset=5&limit=10
Note
Both the above methods will set the value as null if not present.
If you want not to set the query parameter if value is null then use:
const toQueryString = obj => "?".concat(Object.keys(obj).map(e => obj[e] ? `${encodeURIComponent(e)}=${encodeURIComponent(obj[e])}` : null).filter(e => !!e).join("&"));
const data = {
offset: null,
limit: 10
};
toQueryString(data); // => "?limit=10" else with above methods "?offset=null&limit=10"
You can freely use any method.

In ES7 you can write this in one line:
const serialize = (obj) => (Object.entries(obj).map(i => [i[0], encodeURIComponent(i[1])].join('=')).join('&'))

I have a simpler solution that does not use any third-party library and is already apt to be used in any browser that has "Object.keys" (aka all modern browsers + edge + ie):
In ES5
function(a){
if( typeof(a) !== 'object' )
return '';
return `?${Object.keys(a).map(k=>`${k}=${a[k]}`).join('&')}`;
}
In ES3
function(a){
if( typeof(a) !== 'object' )
return '';
return '?' + Object.keys(a).map(function(k){ return k + '=' + a[k] }).join('&');
}

I made a comparison of JSON stringifiers and the results are as follows:
JSON: {"_id":"5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2","isActive":true,"balance":"$1,446.35","age":32,"name":"Logan Keller","email":"logankeller#artiq.com","phone":"+1 (952) 533-2258","friends":[{"id":0,"name":"Colon Salazar"},{"id":1,"name":"French Mcneil"},{"id":2,"name":"Carol Martin"}],"favoriteFruit":"banana"}
Rison: (_id:'5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2',age:32,balance:'$1,446.35',email:'logankeller#artiq.com',favoriteFruit:banana,friends:!((id:0,name:'Colon Salazar'),(id:1,name:'French Mcneil'),(id:2,name:'Carol Martin')),isActive:!t,name:'Logan Keller',phone:'+1 (952) 533-2258')
O-Rison: _id:'5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2',age:32,balance:'$1,446.35',email:'logankeller#artiq.com',favoriteFruit:banana,friends:!((id:0,name:'Colon Salazar'),(id:1,name:'French Mcneil'),(id:2,name:'Carol Martin')),isActive:!t,name:'Logan Keller',phone:'+1 (952) 533-2258'
JSURL: ~(_id~'5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2~isActive~true~balance~'!1*2c446.35~age~32~name~'Logan*20Keller~email~'logankeller*40artiq.com~phone~'*2b1*20*28952*29*20533-2258~friends~(~(id~0~name~'Colon*20Salazar)~(id~1~name~'French*20Mcneil)~(id~2~name~'Carol*20Martin))~favoriteFruit~'banana)
QS: _id=5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2&isActive=true&balance=$1,446.35&age=32&name=Logan Keller&email=logankeller#artiq.com&phone=+1 (952) 533-2258&friends[0][id]=0&friends[0][name]=Colon Salazar&friends[1][id]=1&friends[1][name]=French Mcneil&friends[2][id]=2&friends[2][name]=Carol Martin&favoriteFruit=banana
URLON: $_id=5973782bdb9a930533b05cb2&isActive:true&balance=$1,446.35&age:32&name=Logan%20Keller&email=logankeller#artiq.com&phone=+1%20(952)%20533-2258&friends#$id:0&name=Colon%20Salazar;&$id:1&name=French%20Mcneil;&$id:2&name=Carol%20Martin;;&favoriteFruit=banana
QS-JSON: isActive=true&balance=%241%2C446.35&age=32&name=Logan+Keller&email=logankeller%40artiq.com&phone=%2B1+(952)+533-2258&friends(0).id=0&friends(0).name=Colon+Salazar&friends(1).id=1&friends(1).name=French+Mcneil&friends(2).id=2&friends(2).name=Carol+Martin&favoriteFruit=banana
The shortest among them is URL Object Notation.

There another popular library, qs. You can add it by:
yarn add qs
And then use it like this:
import qs from 'qs'
const array = { a: { b: 'c' } }
const stringified = qs.stringify(array, { encode: false })
console.log(stringified) //-- outputs a[b]=c

ES6 solution for query string encoding of a JavaScript object
const params = {
a: 1,
b: 'query stringify',
c: null,
d: undefined,
f: '',
g: { foo: 1, bar: 2 },
h: ['Winterfell', 'Westeros', 'Braavos'],
i: { first: { second: { third: 3 }}}
}
static toQueryString(params = {}, prefix) {
const query = Object.keys(params).map((k) => {
let key = k;
const value = params[key];
if (!value && (value === null || value === undefined || isNaN(value))) {
value = '';
}
switch (params.constructor) {
case Array:
key = `${prefix}[]`;
break;
case Object:
key = (prefix ? `${prefix}[${key}]` : key);
break;
}
if (typeof value === 'object') {
return this.toQueryString(value, key); // for nested objects
}
return `${key}=${encodeURIComponent(value)}`;
});
return query.join('&');
}
toQueryString(params)
"a=1&b=query%20stringify&c=&d=&f=&g[foo]=1&g[bar]=2&h[]=Winterfell&h[]=Westeros&h[]=Braavos&i[first][second][third]=3"

A single line to convert an object into a query string in case somebody needs it again:
let Objs = { a: 'obejct-a', b: 'object-b' }
Object.keys(objs).map(key => key + '=' + objs[key]).join('&')
// The result will be a=object-a&b=object-b

This is an addition for the accepted solution. This works with objects and array of objects:
parseJsonAsQueryString = function (obj, prefix, objName) {
var str = [];
for (var p in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
var v = obj[p];
if (typeof v == "object") {
var k = (objName ? objName + '.' : '') + (prefix ? prefix + "[" + p + "]" : p);
str.push(parseJsonAsQueryString(v, k));
} else {
var k = (objName ? objName + '.' : '') + (prefix ? prefix + '.' + p : p);
str.push(encodeURIComponent(k) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(v));
//str.push(k + "=" + v);
}
}
}
return str.join("&");
}
Also I have added objName if you're using object parameters, like in ASP.NET MVC action methods.

If you want to convert a nested object recursively and the object may or may not contain arrays (and the arrays may contain objects or arrays, etc), then the solution gets a little more complex. This is my attempt.
I've also added some options to choose if you want to record for each object member at what depth in the main object it sits, and to choose if you want to add a label to the members that come from converted arrays.
Ideally you should test if the thing parameter really receives an object or array.
function thingToString(thing,maxDepth,recordLevel,markArrays){
//thing: object or array to be recursively serialized
//maxDepth (int or false):
// (int) how deep to go with converting objects/arrays within objs/arrays
// (false) no limit to recursive objects/arrays within objects/arrays
//recordLevel (boolean):
// true - insert "(level 1)" before transcript of members at level one (etc)
// false - just
//markArrays (boolean):
// insert text to indicate any members that came from arrays
var result = "";
if (maxDepth !== false && typeof maxDepth != 'number') {maxDepth = 3;}
var runningDepth = 0;//Keeps track how deep we're into recursion
//First prepare the function, so that it can call itself recursively
function serializeAnything(thing){
//Set path-finder values
runningDepth += 1;
if(recordLevel){result += "(level " + runningDepth + ")";}
//First convert any arrays to object so they can be processed
if (thing instanceof Array){
var realObj = {};var key;
if (markArrays) {realObj['type'] = "converted array";}
for (var i = 0;i < thing.length;i++){
if (markArrays) {key = "a" + i;} else {key = i;}
realObj[key] = thing[i];
}
thing = realObj;
console.log('converted one array to ' + typeof realObj);
console.log(thing);
}
//Then deal with it
for (var member in thing){
if (typeof thing[member] == 'object' && runningDepth < maxDepth){
serializeAnything(thing[member]);
//When a sub-object/array is serialized, it will add one to
//running depth. But when we continue to this object/array's
//next sibling, the level must go back up by one
runningDepth -= 1;
} else if (maxDepth !== false && runningDepth >= maxDepth) {
console.log('Reached bottom');
} else
if (
typeof thing[member] == "string" ||
typeof thing[member] == 'boolean' ||
typeof thing[member] == 'number'
){
result += "(" + member + ": " + thing[member] + ") ";
} else {
result += "(" + member + ": [" + typeof thing[member] + " not supported]) ";
}
}
}
//Actually kick off the serialization
serializeAnything(thing);
return result;
}

This is a solution that will work for .NET backends out of the box. I have taken the primary answer of this thread and updated it to fit our .NET needs.
function objectToQuerystring(params) {
var result = '';
function convertJsonToQueryString(data, progress, name) {
name = name || '';
progress = progress || '';
if (typeof data === 'object') {
Object.keys(data).forEach(function (key) {
var value = data[key];
if (name == '') {
convertJsonToQueryString(value, progress, key);
} else {
if (isNaN(parseInt(key))) {
convertJsonToQueryString(value, progress, name + '.' + key);
} else {
convertJsonToQueryString(value, progress, name + '[' + key+ ']');
}
}
})
} else {
result = result ? result.concat('&') : result.concat('?');
result = result.concat(`${name}=${data}`);
}
}
convertJsonToQueryString(params);
return result;
}

To do it in a better way.
It can handle recursive objects or arrays in the standard query form, like a=val&b[0]=val&b[1]=val&c=val&d[some key]=val. Here's the final function.
Logic, Functionality
const objectToQueryString = (initialObj) => {
const reducer = (obj, parentPrefix = null) => (prev, key) => {
const val = obj[key];
key = encodeURIComponent(key);
const prefix = parentPrefix ? `${parentPrefix}[${key}]` : key;
if (val == null || typeof val === 'function') {
prev.push(`${prefix}=`);
return prev;
}
if (['number', 'boolean', 'string'].includes(typeof val)) {
prev.push(`${prefix}=${encodeURIComponent(val)}`);
return prev;
}
prev.push(Object.keys(val).reduce(reducer(val, prefix), []).join('&'));
return prev;
};
return Object.keys(initialObj).reduce(reducer(initialObj), []).join('&');
};
Example
const testCase1 = {
name: 'Full Name',
age: 30
}
const testCase2 = {
name: 'Full Name',
age: 30,
children: [
{name: 'Child foo'},
{name: 'Foo again'}
],
wife: {
name: 'Very Difficult to say here'
}
}
console.log(objectToQueryString(testCase1));
console.log(objectToQueryString(testCase2));
Live Test
Expand the snippet below to verify the result in your browser -
const objectToQueryString = (initialObj) => {
const reducer = (obj, parentPrefix = null) => (prev, key) => {
const val = obj[key];
key = encodeURIComponent(key);
const prefix = parentPrefix ? `${parentPrefix}[${key}]` : key;
if (val == null || typeof val === 'function') {
prev.push(`${prefix}=`);
return prev;
}
if (['number', 'boolean', 'string'].includes(typeof val)) {
prev.push(`${prefix}=${encodeURIComponent(val)}`);
return prev;
}
prev.push(Object.keys(val).reduce(reducer(val, prefix), []).join('&'));
return prev;
};
return Object.keys(initialObj).reduce(reducer(initialObj), []).join('&');
};
const testCase1 = {
name: 'Full Name',
age: 30
}
const testCase2 = {
name: 'Full Name',
age: 30,
children: [
{name: 'Child foo'},
{name: 'Foo again'}
],
wife: {
name: 'Very Difficult to say here'
}
}
console.log(objectToQueryString(testCase1));
console.log(objectToQueryString(testCase2));
Things to consider.
It skips values for functions, null, and undefined
It skips keys and values for empty objects and arrays.
It doesn't handle Number or String objects made with new Number(1) or new String('my string') because no one should ever do that

ok, it's a older post but i'm facing this problem and i have found my personal solution.. maybe can help someone else..
function objToQueryString(obj){
var k = Object.keys(obj);
var s = "";
for(var i=0;i<k.length;i++) {
s += k[i] + "=" + encodeURIComponent(obj[k[i]]);
if (i != k.length -1) s += "&";
}
return s;
};

URLSearchParams looks good, but it didn't work for nested objects.
Try to use
encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(object))

The previous answers do not work if you have a lot of nested objects.
Instead you can pick the function parameter from jquery-param/jquery-param.js. It worked very well for me!
var param = function (a) {
var s = [], rbracket = /\[\]$/,
isArray = function (obj) {
return Object.prototype.toString.call(obj) === '[object Array]';
}, add = function (k, v) {
v = typeof v === 'function' ? v() : v === null ? '' : v === undefined ? '' : v;
s[s.length] = encodeURIComponent(k) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(v);
}, buildParams = function (prefix, obj) {
var i, len, key;
if (prefix) {
if (isArray(obj)) {
for (i = 0, len = obj.length; i < len; i++) {
if (rbracket.test(prefix)) {
add(prefix, obj[i]);
} else {
buildParams(prefix + '[' + (typeof obj[i] === 'object' ? i : '') + ']', obj[i]);
}
}
} else if (obj && String(obj) === '[object Object]') {
for (key in obj) {
buildParams(prefix + '[' + key + ']', obj[key]);
}
} else {
add(prefix, obj);
}
} else if (isArray(obj)) {
for (i = 0, len = obj.length; i < len; i++) {
add(obj[i].name, obj[i].value);
}
} else {
for (key in obj) {
buildParams(key, obj[key]);
}
}
return s;
};
return buildParams('', a).join('&').replace(/%20/g, '+');
};

After going through some top answers here, I have wrote another implementation that tackles some edge cases as well
function serialize(params, prefix) {
return Object.entries(params).reduce((acc, [key, value]) => {
// remove whitespace from both sides of the key before encoding
key = encodeURIComponent(key.trim());
if (params.constructor === Array ) {
key = `${prefix}[]`;
} else if (params.constructor === Object) {
key = (prefix ? `${prefix}[${key}]` : key);
}
/**
* - undefined and NaN values will be skipped automatically
* - value will be empty string for functions and null
* - nested arrays will be flattened
*/
if (value === null || typeof value === 'function') {
acc.push(`${key}=`);
} else if (typeof value === 'object') {
acc = acc.concat(serialize(value, key));
} else if(['number', 'boolean', 'string'].includes(typeof value) && value === value) { // self-check to avoid NaN
acc.push(`${key}=${encodeURIComponent(value)}`);
}
return acc;
}, []);
}
function objectToQueryString(queryParameters) {
return queryParameters ? serialize(queryParameters).join('&'): '';
}
let x = objectToQueryString({
foo: 'hello world',
bar: {
blah: 123,
list: [1, 2, 3],
'nested array': [[4,5],[6,7]] // will be flattened
},
page: 1,
limit: undefined, // field will be ignored
check: false,
max: NaN, // field will be ignored
prop: null,
' key value': 'with spaces' // space in key will be trimmed out
});
console.log(x); // foo=hello%20world&bar[blah]=123&bar[list][]=1&bar[list][]=2&bar[list][]=3&bar[nested%20array][][]=4&bar[nested%20array][][]=5&bar[nested%20array][][]=6&bar[nested%20array][][]=7&page=1&check=false&prop=&key%20value=with%20spaces

Editing a JSON value in varying depth [duplicate]

I have an object that could be any number of levels deep and could have any existing properties.
For example:
var obj = {
db: {
mongodb: {
host: 'localhost'
}
}
};
On that I would like to set (or overwrite) properties like so:
set('db.mongodb.user', 'root');
// or:
set('foo.bar', 'baz');
Where the property string can have any depth, and the value can be any type/thing.
Objects and arrays as values don't need to be merged, should the property key already exist.
Previous example would produce following object:
var obj = {
db: {
mongodb: {
host: 'localhost',
user: 'root'
}
},
foo: {
bar: baz
}
};
How can I realize such a function?

This function, using the arguments you specified, should add/update the data in the obj container. Note that you need to keep track of which elements in obj schema are containers and which are values (strings, ints, etc.) otherwise you will start throwing exceptions.
obj = {}; // global object
function set(path, value) {
var schema = obj; // a moving reference to internal objects within obj
var pList = path.split('.');
var len = pList.length;
for(var i = 0; i < len-1; i++) {
var elem = pList[i];
if( !schema[elem] ) schema[elem] = {}
schema = schema[elem];
}
schema[pList[len-1]] = value;
}
set('mongo.db.user', 'root');

Lodash has a _.set() method.
_.set(obj, 'db.mongodb.user', 'root');
_.set(obj, 'foo.bar', 'baz');

I just write a small function using ES6 + recursion to achieve the goal.
updateObjProp = (obj, value, propPath) => {
const [head, ...rest] = propPath.split('.');
!rest.length
? obj[head] = value
: this.updateObjProp(obj[head], value, rest.join('.'));
}
const user = {profile: {name: 'foo'}};
updateObjProp(user, 'fooChanged', 'profile.name');
I used it a lot on react to update state, it worked pretty well for me.

We can use a recursion function:
/**
* Sets a value of nested key string descriptor inside a Object.
* It changes the passed object.
* Ex:
* let obj = {a: {b:{c:'initial'}}}
* setNestedKey(obj, ['a', 'b', 'c'], 'changed-value')
* assert(obj === {a: {b:{c:'changed-value'}}})
*
* #param {[Object]} obj Object to set the nested key
* #param {[Array]} path An array to describe the path(Ex: ['a', 'b', 'c'])
* #param {[Object]} value Any value
*/
export const setNestedKey = (obj, path, value) => {
if (path.length === 1) {
obj[path] = value
return
}
return setNestedKey(obj[path[0]], path.slice(1), value)
}
It's more simple!

A bit late but here's a non-library, simpler answer:
/**
* Dynamically sets a deeply nested value in an object.
* Optionally "bores" a path to it if its undefined.
* #function
* #param {!object} obj - The object which contains the value you want to change/set.
* #param {!array} path - The array representation of path to the value you want to change/set.
* #param {!mixed} value - The value you want to set it to.
* #param {boolean} setrecursively - If true, will set value of non-existing path as well.
*/
function setDeep(obj, path, value, setrecursively = false) {
path.reduce((a, b, level) => {
if (setrecursively && typeof a[b] === "undefined" && level !== path.length){
a[b] = {};
return a[b];
}
if (level === path.length){
a[b] = value;
return value;
}
return a[b];
}, obj);
}
This function I made can do exactly what you need and a little more.
lets say we want to change the target value that is deeply nested in this object:
let myObj = {
level1: {
level2: {
target: 1
}
}
}
So we would call our function like so:
setDeep(myObj, ["level1", "level2", "target1"], 3);
will result in:
myObj = {
level1: {
level2: {
target: 3
}
}
}
Setting the set recursively flag to true will set objects if they don't exist.
setDeep(myObj, ["new", "path", "target"], 3, true);
will result in this:
obj = myObj = {
new: {
path: {
target: 3
}
},
level1: {
level2: {
target: 3
}
}
}

Inspired by #bpmason1's answer:
function leaf(obj, path, value) {
const pList = path.split('.');
const key = pList.pop();
const pointer = pList.reduce((accumulator, currentValue) => {
if (accumulator[currentValue] === undefined) accumulator[currentValue] = {};
return accumulator[currentValue];
}, obj);
pointer[key] = value;
return obj;
}
Example:
const obj = {
boats: {
m1: 'lady blue'
}
};
leaf(obj, 'boats.m1', 'lady blue II');
leaf(obj, 'boats.m2', 'lady bird');
console.log(obj); // { boats: { m1: 'lady blue II', m2: 'lady bird' } }

I came up with my own solution using pure es6 and recursion that doesn't mutate the original object.
const setNestedProp = (obj = {}, [first, ...rest] , value) => ({
...obj,
[first]: rest.length
? setNestedProp(obj[first], rest, value)
: value
});
const result = setNestedProp({}, ["first", "second", "a"],
"foo");
const result2 = setNestedProp(result, ["first", "second", "b"], "bar");
console.log(result);
console.log(result2);

Lodash has a method called update that does exactly what you need.
This method receives the following parameters:
The object to update
The path of the property to update (the property can be deeply nested)
A function that returns the value to update (given the original value as a parameter)
In your example it would look like this:
_.update(obj, 'db.mongodb.user', function(originalValue) {
return 'root'
})

ES6 has a pretty cool way to do this too using Computed Property Name and Rest Parameter.
const obj = {
levelOne: {
levelTwo: {
levelThree: "Set this one!"
}
}
}
const updatedObj = {
...obj,
levelOne: {
...obj.levelOne,
levelTwo: {
...obj.levelOne.levelTwo,
levelThree: "I am now updated!"
}
}
}
If levelThree is a dynamic property i.e. to set any of the property in levelTwo, you can use [propertyName]: "I am now updated!" where propertyName holds the name of the property in levelTwo.

I needed to achieve the same thing, but in Node.js...
So, I found this nice module: https://www.npmjs.com/package/nested-property
Example:
var mod = require("nested-property");
var obj = {
a: {
b: {
c: {
d: 5
}
}
}
};
console.log(mod.get(obj, "a.b.c.d"));
mod.set(obj, "a.b.c.d", 6);
console.log(mod.get(obj, "a.b.c.d"));

I created gist for setting and getting obj values by string based on correct answer. You can download it or use it as npm/yarn package.
// yarn add gist:5ceba1081bbf0162b98860b34a511a92
// npm install gist:5ceba1081bbf0162b98860b34a511a92
export const DeepObject = {
set: setDeep,
get: getDeep
};
// https://stackoverflow.com/a/6491621
function getDeep(obj: Object, path: string) {
path = path.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, '.$1'); // convert indexes to properties
path = path.replace(/^\./, ''); // strip a leading dot
const a = path.split('.');
for (let i = 0, l = a.length; i < l; ++i) {
const n = a[i];
if (n in obj) {
obj = obj[n];
} else {
return;
}
}
return obj;
}
// https://stackoverflow.com/a/18937118
function setDeep(obj: Object, path: string, value: any) {
let schema = obj; // a moving reference to internal objects within obj
const pList = path.split('.');
const len = pList.length;
for (let i = 0; i < len - 1; i++) {
const elem = pList[i];
if (!schema[elem]) {
schema[elem] = {};
}
schema = schema[elem];
}
schema[pList[len - 1]] = value;
}
// Usage
// import {DeepObject} from 'somePath'
//
// const obj = {
// a: 4,
// b: {
// c: {
// d: 2
// }
// }
// };
//
// DeepObject.set(obj, 'b.c.d', 10); // sets obj.b.c.d to 10
// console.log(DeepObject.get(obj, 'b.c.d')); // returns 10

Extending the accepted answer provided by #bpmason1, to support arrays in string path e.g. string path can be 'db.mongodb.users[0].name' and 'db.mongodb.users[1].name'.
It will set the property value, which if doesn't exist, will be created.
var obj = {};
function set(path, value) {
var schema = obj;
var keysList = path.split('.');
var len = keysList.length;
for (var i = 0; i < len - 1; i++) {
var key = keysList[i];
// checking if key represents an array element e.g. users[0]
if (key.includes('[')) {
//getting propertyName 'users' form key 'users[0]'
var propertyName = key.substr(0, key.length - key.substr(key.indexOf("["), key.length - key.indexOf("[")).length);
if (!schema[propertyName]) {
schema[propertyName] = [];
}
// schema['users'][getting index 0 from 'users[0]']
if (!schema[propertyName][parseInt(key.substr(key.indexOf("[") + 1, key.indexOf("]") - key.indexOf("[") - 1))]) {
// if it doesn't exist create and initialise it
schema = schema[propertyName][parseInt(key.substr(key.indexOf("[") + 1, key.indexOf("]") - key.indexOf("[") - 1))] = {};
} else {
schema = schema[propertyName][parseInt(key.substr(key.indexOf("[") + 1, key.indexOf("]") - key.indexOf("[") - 1))];
}
continue;
}
if (!schema[key]) {
schema[key] = {};
}
schema = schema[key];
} //loop ends
// if last key is array element
if (keysList[len - 1].includes('[')) {
//getting propertyName 'users' form key 'users[0]'
var propertyName = keysList[len - 1].substr(0, keysList[len - 1].length - keysList[len - 1].substr(keysList[len - 1].indexOf("["), keysList[len - 1].length - keysList[len - 1].indexOf("[")).length);
if (!schema[propertyName]) {
schema[propertyName] = [];
}
// schema[users][0] = value;
schema[propertyName][parseInt(keysList[len - 1].substr(keysList[len - 1].indexOf("[") + 1, keysList[len - 1].indexOf("]") - keysList[len - 1].indexOf("[") - 1))] = value;
} else {
schema[keysList[len - 1]] = value;
}
}
// will create if not exist
set("mongo.db.users[0].name.firstname", "hii0");
set("mongo.db.users[1].name.firstname", "hii1");
set("mongo.db.users[2].name", {
"firstname": "hii2"
});
set("mongo.db.other", "xx");
console.log(obj);
// will set if exist
set("mongo.db.other", "yy");
console.log(obj);

Here's a solution using ES 12
function set(obj = {}, key, val) {
const keys = key.split('.')
const last = keys.pop()
keys.reduce((o, k) => o[k] ??= {}, obj)[last] = val
}
(For older versions of javascript, you can do do o[k] || o[k] = {} in the reduce instead)
First, we set keys to be an array of everything but the last key.
Then in the reduce, the accumulator goes one level deeper into obj
each time, initializing it to an empty object if it the value at that key is not defined.
Finally, we set the value at the last key to val.

If you only need to change deeper nested objects, then another method could be to reference the object. As JS objects are handled by their references, you can create a reference to an object you have string-key access to.
Example:
// The object we want to modify:
var obj = {
db: {
mongodb: {
host: 'localhost',
user: 'root'
}
},
foo: {
bar: baz
}
};
var key1 = 'mongodb';
var key2 = 'host';
var myRef = obj.db[key1]; //this creates a reference to obj.db['mongodb']
myRef[key2] = 'my new string';
// The object now looks like:
var obj = {
db: {
mongodb: {
host: 'my new string',
user: 'root'
}
},
foo: {
bar: baz
}
};

Another approach is to use recursion to dig through the object:
(function(root){
function NestedSetterAndGetter(){
function setValueByArray(obj, parts, value){
if(!parts){
throw 'No parts array passed in';
}
if(parts.length === 0){
throw 'parts should never have a length of 0';
}
if(parts.length === 1){
obj[parts[0]] = value;
} else {
var next = parts.shift();
if(!obj[next]){
obj[next] = {};
}
setValueByArray(obj[next], parts, value);
}
}
function getValueByArray(obj, parts, value){
if(!parts) {
return null;
}
if(parts.length === 1){
return obj[parts[0]];
} else {
var next = parts.shift();
if(!obj[next]){
return null;
}
return getValueByArray(obj[next], parts, value);
}
}
this.set = function(obj, path, value) {
setValueByArray(obj, path.split('.'), value);
};
this.get = function(obj, path){
return getValueByArray(obj, path.split('.'));
};
}
root.NestedSetterAndGetter = NestedSetterAndGetter;
})(this);
var setter = new this.NestedSetterAndGetter();
var o = {};
setter.set(o, 'a.b.c', 'apple');
console.log(o); //=> { a: { b: { c: 'apple'}}}
var z = { a: { b: { c: { d: 'test' } } } };
setter.set(z, 'a.b.c', {dd: 'zzz'});
console.log(JSON.stringify(z)); //=> {"a":{"b":{"c":{"dd":"zzz"}}}}
console.log(JSON.stringify(setter.get(z, 'a.b.c'))); //=> {"dd":"zzz"}
console.log(JSON.stringify(setter.get(z, 'a.b'))); //=> {"c":{"dd":"zzz"}}

Late to the party - here's a vanilla js function that accepts a path as an argument and returns the modified object/json
let orig_json = {
string: "Hi",
number: 0,
boolean: false,
object: {
subString: "Hello",
subNumber: 1,
subBoolean: true,
subObject: {
subSubString: "Hello World"
},
subArray: ["-1", "-2", "-3"]
},
array: ["1", "2", "3"]
}
function changeValue(obj_path, value, json) {
let keys = obj_path.split(".")
let obj = { ...json },
tmpobj = {},
prevobj = {}
for (let x = keys.length - 1; x >= 0; x--) {
if (x == 0) {
obj[keys[0]] = tmpobj
} else {
let toeval = 'json.' + keys.slice(0, x).join('.');
prevobj = { ...tmpobj
}
tmpobj = eval(toeval);
if (x == keys.length - 1) tmpobj[keys[x]] = value
else {
tmpobj[keys[x]] = prevobj
}
}
}
return obj
}
let newjson = changeValue("object.subObject.subSubString", "Goodbye world", orig_json);
console.log(newjson)

Another solution to add or override properties:
function propertySetter(property, value) {
const sampleObject = {
string: "Hi",
number: 0,
boolean: false,
object: {
subString: "Hello",
subNumber: 1,
subBoolean: true,
subObject: {
subSubString: "Hello World",
},
subArray: ["-1", "-2", "-3"],
},
array: ["1", "2", "3"],
};
const keys = property.split(".");
const propertyName = keys.pop();
let propertyParent = sampleObject;
while (keys.length > 0) {
const key = keys.shift();
if (!(key in propertyParent)) {
propertyParent[key] = {};
}
propertyParent = propertyParent[key];
}
propertyParent[propertyName] = value;
return sampleObject;
}
console.log(propertySetter("object.subObject.anotherSubString", "Hello you"));
console.log(propertySetter("object.subObject.subSubString", "Hello Earth"));
console.log(propertySetter("object.subObject.nextSubString.subSubSubString", "Helloooo"));

Inspired by ImmutableJS setIn method which will never mutate the original.
This works with mixed array and object nested values.
function setIn(obj = {}, [prop, ...rest], value) {
const newObj = Array.isArray(obj) ? [...obj] : {...obj};
newObj[prop] = rest.length ? setIn(obj[prop], rest, value) : value;
return newObj;
}
var obj = {
a: {
b: {
c: [
{d: 5}
]
}
}
};
const newObj = setIn(obj, ["a", "b", "c", 0, "x"], "new");
//obj === {a: {b: {c: [{d: 5}]}}}
//newObj === {a: {b: {c: [{d: 5, x: "new"}]}}}

As #aheuermann sed, you can use set from lodash library,
However, if you don't want to add lodash to your project for some reason you can use a recursion function that sets/overrides a value in an object.
/**
* recursion function that called in main function
* #param obj initial JSON
* #param keysList array of keys
* #param value value that you want to set
* #returns final JSON
*/
function recursionSet(obj, keysList, value) {
const key = keysList[0]
if (keysList.length === 1) return { ...obj, [key]: value }
return { ...obj, [key]: (recursionSet(obj?.[key] || {}, keysList.slice(1), value)) }
}
/**
* main function that you can call for set a value in an object by nested keys
* #param obj initial JSON
* #param keysString nested keys that seprated by "."
* #param value value that you want to set
* #returns final JSON
*/
function objectSet(obj, keysString, value) {
return recursionSet(obj, keysString.split('.'), value)
}
// simple usage
const a1 = {}
console.log('simple usage:', objectSet(a1, "b.c.d", 5))
// keep the initial data
const a2 = {b:{e: 8}}
console.log('keep the initial data:', objectSet(a2, "b.c.d", 5))
// override data
const a3 = {b:{e: 8, c:2}}
console.log('override data:', objectSet(a3, "b.c.d", 5))
// complex value
const a4 = {b:{e: 8, c:2}}
console.log('complex value:', objectSet(a4, "b.c.d", {f:12}))

If you would like a function that required prior properties to exist, then you could use something like this, it would also return a flag stating whether it managed to find and set the nested property.
function set(obj, path, value) {
var parts = (path || '').split('.');
// using 'every' so we can return a flag stating whether we managed to set the value.
return parts.every((p, i) => {
if (!obj) return false; // cancel early as we havent found a nested prop.
if (i === parts.length - 1){ // we're at the final part of the path.
obj[parts[i]] = value;
}else{
obj = obj[parts[i]]; // overwrite the functions reference of the object with the nested one.
}
return true;
});
}

JQuery has an extend method:
https://api.jquery.com/jquery.extend/
just pass the overwrites as an object and it will merge the two.

Inspired by ClojureScript's assoc-in (https://github.com/clojure/clojurescript/blob/master/src/main/cljs/cljs/core.cljs#L5280), using recursion:
/**
* Associate value (v) in object/array (m) at key/index (k).
* If m is falsy, use new object.
* Returns the updated object/array.
*/
function assoc(m, k, v) {
m = (m || {});
m[k] = v;
return m;
}
/**
* Associate value (v) in nested object/array (m) using sequence of keys (ks)
* to identify the path to the nested key/index.
* If one of the values in the nested object/array doesn't exist, it adds
* a new object.
*/
function assoc_in(m={}, [k, ...ks], v) {
return ks.length ? assoc(m, k, assoc_in(m[k], ks, v)) : assoc(m, k, v);
}
/**
* Associate value (v) in nested object/array (m) using key string notation (s)
* (e.g. "k1.k2").
*/
function set(m, s, v) {
ks = s.split(".");
return assoc_in(m, ks, v);
}
Note:
With the provided implementation,
assoc_in({"a": 1}, ["a", "b"], 2)
returns
{"a": 1}
I would prefer that it throw an error in this case. If desired, you can add a check in assoc to verify m is either an object or array and throw an error otherwise.

I tried to write this set method in short, it may help someone!
function set(obj, key, value) {
let keys = key.split('.');
if(keys.length<2){ obj[key] = value; return obj; }
let lastKey = keys.pop();
let fun = `obj.${keys.join('.')} = {${lastKey}: '${value}'};`;
return new Function(fun)();
}
var obj = {
"hello": {
"world": "test"
}
};
set(obj, "hello.world", 'test updated');
console.log(obj);
set(obj, "hello.world.again", 'hello again');
console.log(obj);
set(obj, "hello.world.again.onece_again", 'hello once again');
console.log(obj);

const set = (o, path, value) => {
const props = path.split('.');
const prop = props.shift()
if (props.length === 0) {
o[prop] = value
} else {
o[prop] = o[prop] ?? {}
set(o[prop], props.join('.'), value)
}
}

in case you want to deeply update or insert an object
try this :-
let init = {
abc: {
c: {1: 2, 3: 5, 0: {l: 3}},
d: 100
}
}
Object.prototype.deepUpdate = function(update){
let key = Object.keys(update);
key.forEach((k) => {
if(typeof update[key] == "object"){
this[k].deepUpdate(update[key], this[k])
}
else
this[k] = update[k]
})
}
init.deepUpdate({abc: {c: {l: 10}}})
console.log(init)
but make sure it will change the original object, you can make it to not change the original object :
JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(init)).deepUpdate({abc: {c: {l: 10}}})

Improving on bpmason1's answer:
-adds a get() function.
-It does not require to define global storage object
-It is accessible from same domain iFrames
function set(path, value)
{
var schema = parent.document;
path="data."+path;
var pList = path.split('.');
var len = pList.length;
for(var i = 0; i < len-1; i++)
{
if(!schema[pList[i]])
schema[pList[i]] = {}
schema = schema[pList[i]];
}
schema[pList[len-1]] = value;
}
function get(path)
{
path="data."+path;
var schema=parent.document;
var pList = path.split('.');
for(var i = 0; i < pList.length; i++)
schema = schema[pList[i]];
return schema;
}
set('mongo.db.user', 'root');
set('mongo.db.name', 'glen');
console.log(get('mongo.db.name')); //prints 'glen'

Sometimes if the key also has dots (.) it its string this may pose a problem. As even that single key will now get split into various keys.
It is best to store the key path in an array, like so: ['db','mongodb','user'] and assign the value dynamically with the below function.
function set(obj, path, value) {
var schema = obj;
var pList = path.slice();
var len = pList.length;
for (var i = 0; i < len - 1; i++) {
var elem = pList[i];
if (!schema[elem]) schema[elem] = {};
schema = schema[elem];
}
schema[pList[len - 1]] = value;
}
let path = ['db','mongodb','user'];
set(obj, path, 'root');

I want to leave my answer for this interesting topic. Creating a function that sets dynamic properties for an object can be difficult.
const entity = {
haveDogs: true,
dogs: ['Maya', 'Perla']
}
function isObject(obj) {
return obj instanceof Object && obj.constructor === Object;
}
function setSchema(key, schema, value) {
if (!isObject(value)) {
schema[key] = value;
return
}
if (!schema[key]) schema[key] = {}
schema[key] = mutate(schema[key], value);
}
function mutate(obj, newObjData) {
const keys = Object.keys(newObjData)
for (const key of keys) {
let schema = obj
const list = key.split('.')
const value = newObjData[key]
const total = list.length - 1
if (list.length === 1) {
setSchema(key, schema, value)
continue
}
for (let i = 0; i < total; i++) {
const elem = list[i];
if (!schema[elem]) schema[elem] = {}
schema = schema[elem]
}
const subField = list[total]
setSchema(subField, schema, value)
}
return obj
}
mutate(entity, {
haveDogs: false,
'pet1.pet2.pet3.pet4.pet5': 'pets',
'bestFriends.list': ['Maya', 'Lucas'],
friends: {
'whitelist.permitted': ['Maya', 'Perla'],
'party.blocked': ['Juan', 'Trump']
}
})
console.log('[entity]', entity)

How to access Javascript object by path? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Accessing nested JavaScript objects and arrays by string path
(44 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I'm temporarily stuck with what appears to be a very simple JavaScript problem, but maybe I'm just missing the right search keywords!
Say we have an object
var r = { a:1, b: {b1:11, b2: 99}};
There are several ways to access the 99:
r.b.b2
r['b']['b2']
What I want is to be able to define a string
var s = "b.b2";
and then access the 99 using
r.s or r[s] //(which of course won't work)
One way is to write a function for it that splits the string on dot and maybe recursively/iteratively gets the property. But is there any simpler/more efficient way? Anything useful in any of the jQuery APIs here?

Here's a naive function I wrote a while ago, but it works for basic object properties:
function getDescendantProp(obj, desc) {
var arr = desc.split(".");
while(arr.length && (obj = obj[arr.shift()]));
return obj;
}
console.log(getDescendantProp(r, "b.b2"));
//-> 99
Although there are answers that extend this to "allow" array index access, that's not really necessary as you can just specify numerical indexes using dot notation with this method:
getDescendantProp({ a: [ 1, 2, 3 ] }, 'a.2');
//-> 3

split and reduce while passing the object as the initalValue
Update
(thanks to comment posted by TeChn4K)
With ES6 syntax, it is even shorter
var r = { a:1, b: {b1:11, b2: 99}};
var s = "b.b2";
var value = s.split('.').reduce((a, b) => a[b], r);
console.log(value);
Old version
var r = { a:1, b: {b1:11, b2: 99}};
var s = "b.b2";
var value = s.split('.').reduce(function(a, b) {
return a[b];
}, r);
console.log(value);

You can use lodash get() and set() methods.
Getting
var object = { 'a': [{ 'b': { 'c': 3 } }] };
_.get(object, 'a[0].b.c');
// → 3
Setting
var object = { 'a': [{ 'b': { 'c': 3 } }] };
_.set(object, 'a[0].b.c', 4);
console.log(object.a[0].b.c);
// → 4

If it's possible in your scenario that you could put the entire array variable you're after into a string you could use the eval() function.
var r = { a:1, b: {b1:11, b2: 99}};
var s = "r.b.b2";
alert(eval(s)); // 99
I can feel people reeling in horror

Extending #JohnB's answer, I added a setter value as well. Check out the plunkr at
http://plnkr.co/edit/lo0thC?p=preview
function getSetDescendantProp(obj, desc, value) {
var arr = desc ? desc.split(".") : [];
while (arr.length && obj) {
var comp = arr.shift();
var match = new RegExp("(.+)\\[([0-9]*)\\]").exec(comp);
// handle arrays
if ((match !== null) && (match.length == 3)) {
var arrayData = {
arrName: match[1],
arrIndex: match[2]
};
if (obj[arrayData.arrName] !== undefined) {
if (typeof value !== 'undefined' && arr.length === 0) {
obj[arrayData.arrName][arrayData.arrIndex] = value;
}
obj = obj[arrayData.arrName][arrayData.arrIndex];
} else {
obj = undefined;
}
continue;
}
// handle regular things
if (typeof value !== 'undefined') {
if (obj[comp] === undefined) {
obj[comp] = {};
}
if (arr.length === 0) {
obj[comp] = value;
}
}
obj = obj[comp];
}
return obj;
}

This is the simplest i could do:
var accessProperties = function(object, string){
var explodedString = string.split('.');
for (i = 0, l = explodedString.length; i<l; i++){
object = object[explodedString[i]];
}
return object;
}
var r = { a:1, b: {b1:11, b2: 99}};
var s = "b.b2";
var o = accessProperties(r, s);
alert(o);//99

you could also do
var s = "['b'].b2";
var num = eval('r'+s);

Here is an extension of Andy E's code, that recurses into arrays and returns all values:
function GetDescendantProps(target, pathString) {
var arr = pathString.split(".");
while(arr.length && (target = target[arr.shift()])){
if (arr.length && target.length && target.forEach) { // handle arrays
var remainder = arr.join('.');
var results = [];
for (var i = 0; i < target.length; i++){
var x = this.GetDescendantProps(target[i], remainder);
if (x) results = results.concat(x);
}
return results;
}
}
return (target) ? [target] : undefined; //single result, wrap in array for consistency
}
So given this target:
var t =
{a:
{b: [
{'c':'x'},
{'not me':'y'},
{'c':'z'}
]
}
};
We get:
GetDescendantProps(t, "a.b.c") === ["x", "z"]; // true

I don't know a supported jQuery API function but I have this function:
var ret = data; // Your object
var childexpr = "b.b2"; // Your expression
if (childexpr != '') {
var childs = childexpr.split('.');
var i;
for (i = 0; i < childs.length && ret != undefined; i++) {
ret = ret[childs[i]];
}
}
return ret;

I've extended Andy E's answer, so that it can also handle arrays:
function getDescendantProp(obj, desc) {
var arr = desc.split(".");
//while (arr.length && (obj = obj[arr.shift()]));
while (arr.length && obj) {
var comp = arr.shift();
var match = new RegExp("(.+)\\[([0-9]*)\\]").exec(comp);
if ((match !== null) && (match.length == 3)) {
var arrayData = { arrName: match[1], arrIndex: match[2] };
if (obj[arrayData.arrName] != undefined) {
obj = obj[arrayData.arrName][arrayData.arrIndex];
} else {
obj = undefined;
}
} else {
obj = obj[comp]
}
}
return obj;
}
There are probably more efficient ways to do the Regex, but it's compact.
You can now do stuff like:
var model = {
"m1": {
"Id": "22345",
"People": [
{ "Name": "John", "Numbers": ["07263", "17236", "1223"] },
{ "Name": "Jenny", "Numbers": ["2", "3", "6"] },
{ "Name": "Bob", "Numbers": ["12", "3333", "4444"] }
]
}
}
// Should give you "6"
var x = getDescendantProp(model, "m1.People[1].Numbers[2]");

Performance tests for Andy E's, Jason More's, and my own solution are available at http://jsperf.com/propertyaccessor. Please feel free to run tests using your own browser to add to the data collected.
The prognosis is clear, Andy E's solution is the fastest by far!
For anyone interested, here is the code for my solution to the original question.
function propertyAccessor(object, keys, array) {
/*
Retrieve an object property with a dot notation string.
#param {Object} object Object to access.
#param {String} keys Property to access using 0 or more dots for notation.
#param {Object} [array] Optional array of non-dot notation strings to use instead of keys.
#return {*}
*/
array = array || keys.split('.')
if (array.length > 1) {
// recurse by calling self
return propertyAccessor(object[array.shift()], null, array)
} else {
return object[array]
}
}

Short answer: No, there is no native .access function like you want it. As you correctly mentioned, you would have to define your own function which splits the string and loops/checks over its parts.
Of course, what you always can do (even if its considered bad practice) is to use eval().
Like
var s = 'b.b2';
eval('r.' + s); // 99

Here is a a little better way then #andy's answer, where the obj (context) is optional, it falls back to window if not provided..
function getDescendantProp(desc, obj) {
obj = obj || window;
var arr = desc.split(".");
while (arr.length && (obj = obj[arr.shift()]));
return obj;
};

Convert a JavaScript object's keys with dot notation into an object [duplicate]

I threw some code together to flatten and un-flatten complex/nested JavaScript objects. It works, but it's a bit slow (triggers the 'long script' warning).
For the flattened names I want "." as the delimiter and [INDEX] for arrays.
Examples:
un-flattened | flattened
---------------------------
{foo:{bar:false}} => {"foo.bar":false}
{a:[{b:["c","d"]}]} => {"a[0].b[0]":"c","a[0].b[1]":"d"}
[1,[2,[3,4],5],6] => {"[0]":1,"[1].[0]":2,"[1].[1].[0]":3,"[1].[1].[1]":4,"[1].[2]":5,"[2]":6}
I created a benchmark that ~simulates my use case http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/
Get a nested object
Flatten it
Look through it and possibly modify it while flattened
Unflatten it back to it's original nested format to be shipped away
I would like faster code: For clarification, code that completes the JSFiddle benchmark (http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/) significantly faster (~20%+ would be nice) in IE 9+, FF 24+, and Chrome 29+.
Here's the relevant JavaScript code: Current Fastest: http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/6/
var unflatten = function(data) {
"use strict";
if (Object(data) !== data || Array.isArray(data))
return data;
var result = {}, cur, prop, idx, last, temp;
for(var p in data) {
cur = result, prop = "", last = 0;
do {
idx = p.indexOf(".", last);
temp = p.substring(last, idx !== -1 ? idx : undefined);
cur = cur[prop] || (cur[prop] = (!isNaN(parseInt(temp)) ? [] : {}));
prop = temp;
last = idx + 1;
} while(idx >= 0);
cur[prop] = data[p];
}
return result[""];
}
var flatten = function(data) {
var result = {};
function recurse (cur, prop) {
if (Object(cur) !== cur) {
result[prop] = cur;
} else if (Array.isArray(cur)) {
for(var i=0, l=cur.length; i<l; i++)
recurse(cur[i], prop ? prop+"."+i : ""+i);
if (l == 0)
result[prop] = [];
} else {
var isEmpty = true;
for (var p in cur) {
isEmpty = false;
recurse(cur[p], prop ? prop+"."+p : p);
}
if (isEmpty)
result[prop] = {};
}
}
recurse(data, "");
return result;
}
EDIT 1 Modified the above to #Bergi 's implementation which is currently the fastest. As an aside, using ".indexOf" instead of "regex.exec" is around 20% faster in FF but 20% slower in Chrome; so I'll stick with the regex since it's simpler (here's my attempt at using indexOf to replace the regex http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/2/).
EDIT 2 Building on #Bergi 's idea I managed to created a faster non-regex version (3x faster in FF and ~10% faster in Chrome). http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/6/ In the this (the current) implementation the rules for key names are simply, keys cannot start with an integer or contain a period.
Example:
{"foo":{"bar":[0]}} => {"foo.bar.0":0}
EDIT 3 Adding #AaditMShah 's inline path parsing approach (rather than String.split) helped to improve the unflatten performance. I'm very happy with the overall performance improvement reached.
The latest jsfiddle and jsperf:
http://jsfiddle.net/WSzec/14/
http://jsperf.com/flatten-un-flatten/4

Here's my much shorter implementation:
Object.unflatten = function(data) {
"use strict";
if (Object(data) !== data || Array.isArray(data))
return data;
var regex = /\.?([^.\[\]]+)|\[(\d+)\]/g,
resultholder = {};
for (var p in data) {
var cur = resultholder,
prop = "",
m;
while (m = regex.exec(p)) {
cur = cur[prop] || (cur[prop] = (m[2] ? [] : {}));
prop = m[2] || m[1];
}
cur[prop] = data[p];
}
return resultholder[""] || resultholder;
};
flatten hasn't changed much (and I'm not sure whether you really need those isEmpty cases):
Object.flatten = function(data) {
var result = {};
function recurse (cur, prop) {
if (Object(cur) !== cur) {
result[prop] = cur;
} else if (Array.isArray(cur)) {
for(var i=0, l=cur.length; i<l; i++)
recurse(cur[i], prop + "[" + i + "]");
if (l == 0)
result[prop] = [];
} else {
var isEmpty = true;
for (var p in cur) {
isEmpty = false;
recurse(cur[p], prop ? prop+"."+p : p);
}
if (isEmpty && prop)
result[prop] = {};
}
}
recurse(data, "");
return result;
}
Together, they run your benchmark in about the half of the time (Opera 12.16: ~900ms instead of ~ 1900ms, Chrome 29: ~800ms instead of ~1600ms).
Note: This and most other solutions answered here focus on speed and are susceptible to prototype pollution and shold not be used on untrusted objects.

I wrote two functions to flatten and unflatten a JSON object.
Flatten a JSON object:
var flatten = (function (isArray, wrapped) {
return function (table) {
return reduce("", {}, table);
};
function reduce(path, accumulator, table) {
if (isArray(table)) {
var length = table.length;
if (length) {
var index = 0;
while (index < length) {
var property = path + "[" + index + "]", item = table[index++];
if (wrapped(item) !== item) accumulator[property] = item;
else reduce(property, accumulator, item);
}
} else accumulator[path] = table;
} else {
var empty = true;
if (path) {
for (var property in table) {
var item = table[property], property = path + "." + property, empty = false;
if (wrapped(item) !== item) accumulator[property] = item;
else reduce(property, accumulator, item);
}
} else {
for (var property in table) {
var item = table[property], empty = false;
if (wrapped(item) !== item) accumulator[property] = item;
else reduce(property, accumulator, item);
}
}
if (empty) accumulator[path] = table;
}
return accumulator;
}
}(Array.isArray, Object));
Performance:
It's faster than the current solution in Opera. The current solution is 26% slower in Opera.
It's faster than the current solution in Firefox. The current solution is 9% slower in Firefox.
It's faster than the current solution in Chrome. The current solution is 29% slower in Chrome.
Unflatten a JSON object:
function unflatten(table) {
var result = {};
for (var path in table) {
var cursor = result, length = path.length, property = "", index = 0;
while (index < length) {
var char = path.charAt(index);
if (char === "[") {
var start = index + 1,
end = path.indexOf("]", start),
cursor = cursor[property] = cursor[property] || [],
property = path.slice(start, end),
index = end + 1;
} else {
var cursor = cursor[property] = cursor[property] || {},
start = char === "." ? index + 1 : index,
bracket = path.indexOf("[", start),
dot = path.indexOf(".", start);
if (bracket < 0 && dot < 0) var end = index = length;
else if (bracket < 0) var end = index = dot;
else if (dot < 0) var end = index = bracket;
else var end = index = bracket < dot ? bracket : dot;
var property = path.slice(start, end);
}
}
cursor[property] = table[path];
}
return result[""];
}
Performance:
It's faster than the current solution in Opera. The current solution is 5% slower in Opera.
It's slower than the current solution in Firefox. My solution is 26% slower in Firefox.
It's slower than the current solution in Chrome. My solution is 6% slower in Chrome.
Flatten and unflatten a JSON object:
Overall my solution performs either equally well or even better than the current solution.
Performance:
It's faster than the current solution in Opera. The current solution is 21% slower in Opera.
It's as fast as the current solution in Firefox.
It's faster than the current solution in Firefox. The current solution is 20% slower in Chrome.
Output format:
A flattened object uses the dot notation for object properties and the bracket notation for array indices:
{foo:{bar:false}} => {"foo.bar":false}
{a:[{b:["c","d"]}]} => {"a[0].b[0]":"c","a[0].b[1]":"d"}
[1,[2,[3,4],5],6] => {"[0]":1,"[1][0]":2,"[1][1][0]":3,"[1][1][1]":4,"[1][2]":5,"[2]":6}
In my opinion this format is better than only using the dot notation:
{foo:{bar:false}} => {"foo.bar":false}
{a:[{b:["c","d"]}]} => {"a.0.b.0":"c","a.0.b.1":"d"}
[1,[2,[3,4],5],6] => {"0":1,"1.0":2,"1.1.0":3,"1.1.1":4,"1.2":5,"2":6}
Advantages:
Flattening an object is faster than the current solution.
Flattening and unflattening an object is as fast as or faster than the current solution.
Flattened objects use both the dot notation and the bracket notation for readability.
Disadvantages:
Unflattening an object is slower than the current solution in most (but not all) cases.
The current JSFiddle demo gave the following values as output:
Nested : 132175 : 63
Flattened : 132175 : 564
Nested : 132175 : 54
Flattened : 132175 : 508
My updated JSFiddle demo gave the following values as output:
Nested : 132175 : 59
Flattened : 132175 : 514
Nested : 132175 : 60
Flattened : 132175 : 451
I'm not really sure what that means, so I'll stick with the jsPerf results. After all jsPerf is a performance benchmarking utility. JSFiddle is not.

ES6 version:
const flatten = (obj, path = '') => {
if (!(obj instanceof Object)) return {[path.replace(/\.$/g, '')]:obj};
return Object.keys(obj).reduce((output, key) => {
return obj instanceof Array ?
{...output, ...flatten(obj[key], path + '[' + key + '].')}:
{...output, ...flatten(obj[key], path + key + '.')};
}, {});
}
Example:
console.log(flatten({a:[{b:["c","d"]}]}));
console.log(flatten([1,[2,[3,4],5],6]));

3 ½ Years later...
For my own project I wanted to flatten JSON objects in mongoDB dot notation and came up with a simple solution:
/**
* Recursively flattens a JSON object using dot notation.
*
* NOTE: input must be an object as described by JSON spec. Arbitrary
* JS objects (e.g. {a: () => 42}) may result in unexpected output.
* MOREOVER, it removes keys with empty objects/arrays as value (see
* examples bellow).
*
* #example
* // returns {a:1, 'b.0.c': 2, 'b.0.d.e': 3, 'b.1': 4}
* flatten({a: 1, b: [{c: 2, d: {e: 3}}, 4]})
* // returns {a:1, 'b.0.c': 2, 'b.0.d.e.0': true, 'b.0.d.e.1': false, 'b.0.d.e.2.f': 1}
* flatten({a: 1, b: [{c: 2, d: {e: [true, false, {f: 1}]}}]})
* // return {a: 1}
* flatten({a: 1, b: [], c: {}})
*
* #param obj item to be flattened
* #param {Array.string} [prefix=[]] chain of prefix joined with a dot and prepended to key
* #param {Object} [current={}] result of flatten during the recursion
*
* #see https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/document/#dot-notation
*/
function flatten (obj, prefix, current) {
prefix = prefix || []
current = current || {}
// Remember kids, null is also an object!
if (typeof (obj) === 'object' && obj !== null) {
Object.keys(obj).forEach(key => {
this.flatten(obj[key], prefix.concat(key), current)
})
} else {
current[prefix.join('.')] = obj
}
return current
}
Features and/or caveats
It only accepts JSON objects. So if you pass something like {a: () => {}} you might not get what you wanted!
It removes empty arrays and objects. So this {a: {}, b: []} is flattened to {}.

Use this library:
npm install flat
Usage (from https://www.npmjs.com/package/flat):
Flatten:
var flatten = require('flat')
flatten({
key1: {
keyA: 'valueI'
},
key2: {
keyB: 'valueII'
},
key3: { a: { b: { c: 2 } } }
})
// {
// 'key1.keyA': 'valueI',
// 'key2.keyB': 'valueII',
// 'key3.a.b.c': 2
// }
Un-flatten:
var unflatten = require('flat').unflatten
unflatten({
'three.levels.deep': 42,
'three.levels': {
nested: true
}
})
// {
// three: {
// levels: {
// deep: 42,
// nested: true
// }
// }
// }

Here's another approach that runs slower (about 1000ms) than the above answer, but has an interesting idea :-)
Instead of iterating through each property chain, it just picks the last property and uses a look-up-table for the rest to store the intermediate results. This look-up-table will be iterated until there are no property chains left and all values reside on uncocatenated properties.
JSON.unflatten = function(data) {
"use strict";
if (Object(data) !== data || Array.isArray(data))
return data;
var regex = /\.?([^.\[\]]+)$|\[(\d+)\]$/,
props = Object.keys(data),
result, p;
while(p = props.shift()) {
var m = regex.exec(p),
target;
if (m.index) {
var rest = p.slice(0, m.index);
if (!(rest in data)) {
data[rest] = m[2] ? [] : {};
props.push(rest);
}
target = data[rest];
} else {
target = result || (result = (m[2] ? [] : {}));
}
target[m[2] || m[1]] = data[p];
}
return result;
};
It currently uses the data input parameter for the table, and puts lots of properties on it - a non-destructive version should be possible as well. Maybe a clever lastIndexOf usage performs better than the regex (depends on the regex engine).
See it in action here.

You can use https://github.com/hughsk/flat
Take a nested Javascript object and flatten it, or unflatten an object with delimited keys.
Example from the doc
var flatten = require('flat')
flatten({
key1: {
keyA: 'valueI'
},
key2: {
keyB: 'valueII'
},
key3: { a: { b: { c: 2 } } }
})
// {
// 'key1.keyA': 'valueI',
// 'key2.keyB': 'valueII',
// 'key3.a.b.c': 2
// }
var unflatten = require('flat').unflatten
unflatten({
'three.levels.deep': 42,
'three.levels': {
nested: true
}
})
// {
// three: {
// levels: {
// deep: 42,
// nested: true
// }
// }
// }

This code recursively flattens out JSON objects.
I included my timing mechanism in the code and it gives me 1ms but I'm not sure if that's the most accurate one.
var new_json = [{
"name": "fatima",
"age": 25,
"neighbour": {
"name": "taqi",
"location": "end of the street",
"property": {
"built in": 1990,
"owned": false,
"years on market": [1990, 1998, 2002, 2013],
"year short listed": [], //means never
}
},
"town": "Mountain View",
"state": "CA"
},
{
"name": "qianru",
"age": 20,
"neighbour": {
"name": "joe",
"location": "opposite to the park",
"property": {
"built in": 2011,
"owned": true,
"years on market": [1996, 2011],
"year short listed": [], //means never
}
},
"town": "Pittsburgh",
"state": "PA"
}]
function flatten(json, flattened, str_key) {
for (var key in json) {
if (json.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
if (json[key] instanceof Object && json[key] != "") {
flatten(json[key], flattened, str_key + "." + key);
} else {
flattened[str_key + "." + key] = json[key];
}
}
}
}
var flattened = {};
console.time('flatten');
flatten(new_json, flattened, "");
console.timeEnd('flatten');
for (var key in flattened){
console.log(key + ": " + flattened[key]);
}
Output:
flatten: 1ms
.0.name: fatima
.0.age: 25
.0.neighbour.name: taqi
.0.neighbour.location: end of the street
.0.neighbour.property.built in: 1990
.0.neighbour.property.owned: false
.0.neighbour.property.years on market.0: 1990
.0.neighbour.property.years on market.1: 1998
.0.neighbour.property.years on market.2: 2002
.0.neighbour.property.years on market.3: 2013
.0.neighbour.property.year short listed:
.0.town: Mountain View
.0.state: CA
.1.name: qianru
.1.age: 20
.1.neighbour.name: joe
.1.neighbour.location: opposite to the park
.1.neighbour.property.built in: 2011
.1.neighbour.property.owned: true
.1.neighbour.property.years on market.0: 1996
.1.neighbour.property.years on market.1: 2011
.1.neighbour.property.year short listed:
.1.town: Pittsburgh
.1.state: PA

Here's mine. It runs in <2ms in Google Apps Script on a sizable object. It uses dashes instead of dots for separators, and it doesn't handle arrays specially like in the asker's question, but this is what I wanted for my use.
function flatten (obj) {
var newObj = {};
for (var key in obj) {
if (typeof obj[key] === 'object' && obj[key] !== null) {
var temp = flatten(obj[key])
for (var key2 in temp) {
newObj[key+"-"+key2] = temp[key2];
}
} else {
newObj[key] = obj[key];
}
}
return newObj;
}
Example:
var test = {
a: 1,
b: 2,
c: {
c1: 3.1,
c2: 3.2
},
d: 4,
e: {
e1: 5.1,
e2: 5.2,
e3: {
e3a: 5.31,
e3b: 5.32
},
e4: 5.4
},
f: 6
}
Logger.log("start");
Logger.log(JSON.stringify(flatten(test),null,2));
Logger.log("done");
Example output:
[17-02-08 13:21:05:245 CST] start
[17-02-08 13:21:05:246 CST] {
"a": 1,
"b": 2,
"c-c1": 3.1,
"c-c2": 3.2,
"d": 4,
"e-e1": 5.1,
"e-e2": 5.2,
"e-e3-e3a": 5.31,
"e-e3-e3b": 5.32,
"e-e4": 5.4,
"f": 6
}
[17-02-08 13:21:05:247 CST] done

Object.prototype.flatten = function (obj) {
let ans = {};
let anotherObj = { ...obj };
function performFlatten(anotherObj) {
Object.keys(anotherObj).forEach((key, idx) => {
if (typeof anotherObj[key] !== 'object') {
ans[key] = anotherObj[key];
console.log('ans so far : ', ans);
} else {
console.log(key, { ...anotherObj[key] });
performFlatten(anotherObj[key]);
}
})
}
performFlatten(anotherObj);
return ans;
}
let ans = flatten(obj);
console.log(ans);

I added +/- 10-15% efficiency to the selected answer by minor code refactoring and moving the recursive function outside of the function namespace.
See my question: Are namespaced functions reevaluated on every call? for why this slows nested functions down.
function _flatten (target, obj, path) {
var i, empty;
if (obj.constructor === Object) {
empty = true;
for (i in obj) {
empty = false;
_flatten(target, obj[i], path ? path + '.' + i : i);
}
if (empty && path) {
target[path] = {};
}
}
else if (obj.constructor === Array) {
i = obj.length;
if (i > 0) {
while (i--) {
_flatten(target, obj[i], path + '[' + i + ']');
}
} else {
target[path] = [];
}
}
else {
target[path] = obj;
}
}
function flatten (data) {
var result = {};
_flatten(result, data, null);
return result;
}
See benchmark.

Here's a recursive solution for flatten I put together in PowerShell:
#---helper function for ConvertTo-JhcUtilJsonTable
#
function getNodes {
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[System.Object]
$job,
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[System.String]
$path
)
$t = $job.GetType()
$ct = 0
$h = #{}
if ($t.Name -eq 'PSCustomObject') {
foreach ($m in Get-Member -InputObject $job -MemberType NoteProperty) {
getNodes -job $job.($m.Name) -path ($path + '.' + $m.Name)
}
}
elseif ($t.Name -eq 'Object[]') {
foreach ($o in $job) {
getNodes -job $o -path ($path + "[$ct]")
$ct++
}
}
else {
$h[$path] = $job
$h
}
}
#---flattens a JSON document object into a key value table where keys are proper JSON paths corresponding to their value
#
function ConvertTo-JhcUtilJsonTable {
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
[System.Object[]]
$jsonObj
)
begin {
$rootNode = 'root'
}
process {
foreach ($o in $jsonObj) {
$table = getNodes -job $o -path $rootNode
# $h = #{}
$a = #()
$pat = '^' + $rootNode
foreach ($i in $table) {
foreach ($k in $i.keys) {
# $h[$k -replace $pat, ''] = $i[$k]
$a += New-Object -TypeName psobject -Property #{'Key' = $($k -replace $pat, ''); 'Value' = $i[$k]}
# $h[$k -replace $pat, ''] = $i[$k]
}
}
# $h
$a
}
}
end{}
}
Example:
'{"name": "John","Address": {"house": "1234", "Street": "Boogie Ave"}, "pets": [{"Type": "Dog", "Age": 4, "Toys": ["rubberBall", "rope"]},{"Type": "Cat", "Age": 7, "Toys": ["catNip"]}]}' | ConvertFrom-Json | ConvertTo-JhcUtilJsonTable
Key Value
--- -----
.Address.house 1234
.Address.Street Boogie Ave
.name John
.pets[0].Age 4
.pets[0].Toys[0] rubberBall
.pets[0].Toys[1] rope
.pets[0].Type Dog
.pets[1].Age 7
.pets[1].Toys[0] catNip
.pets[1].Type Cat

I wanted an approach so that I could be able to easily convert my json data into a csv file.
The scenario is: I query data from somewhere and I receive an array of some model, like a bank extract.
This approach below is used to parse each one of these entries.
function jsonFlatter(data, previousKey, obj) {
obj = obj || {}
previousKey = previousKey || ""
Object.keys(data).map(key => {
let newKey = `${previousKey}${previousKey ? "_" : ""}${key}`
let _value = data[key]
let isArray = Array.isArray(_value)
if (typeof _value !== "object" || isArray || _value == null) {
if (isArray) {
_value = JSON.stringify(_value)
} else if (_value == null) {
_value = "null"
}
obj[newKey] = _value
} else if (typeof _value === "object") {
if (!Object.keys(_value).length) {
obj[newKey] = "null"
} else {
return jsonFlatter(_value, newKey, obj)
}
}
})
return obj
}
This way, I can count on the uniformity of the keys and inner keys of my object model, but arrays are simply stringified since I can't rely on their uniformity. Also, empty objects become the string "null", since I still want it's key to appear in the final result.
Usage example:
const test_data = {
a: {
aa: {
aaa: 4354,
aab: 654
},
ab: 123
},
b: 234,
c: {},
d: []
}
console.log('result', jsonFlatter(test_data))
#### output
{
"a_aa_aaa": 4354,
"a_aa_aab": 654,
"a_ab": 123,
"b": 234,
"c": "null",
"d": "[]"
}

try this one:
function getFlattenObject(data, response = {}) {
for (const key in data) {
if (typeof data[key] === 'object' && !Array.isArray(data[key])) {
getFlattenObject(data[key], response);
} else {
response[key] = data[key];
}
}
return response;
}

I'd like to add a new version of flatten case (this is what i needed :)) which, according to my probes with the above jsFiddler, is slightly faster then the currently selected one.
Moreover, me personally see this snippet a bit more readable, which is of course important for multi-developer projects.
function flattenObject(graph) {
let result = {},
item,
key;
function recurr(graph, path) {
if (Array.isArray(graph)) {
graph.forEach(function (itm, idx) {
key = path + '[' + idx + ']';
if (itm && typeof itm === 'object') {
recurr(itm, key);
} else {
result[key] = itm;
}
});
} else {
Reflect.ownKeys(graph).forEach(function (p) {
key = path + '.' + p;
item = graph[p];
if (item && typeof item === 'object') {
recurr(item, key);
} else {
result[key] = item;
}
});
}
}
recurr(graph, '');
return result;
}

Here is some code I wrote to flatten an object I was working with. It creates a new class that takes every nested field and brings it into the first layer. You could modify it to unflatten by remembering the original placement of the keys. It also assumes the keys are unique even across nested objects. Hope it helps.
class JSONFlattener {
ojson = {}
flattenedjson = {}
constructor(original_json) {
this.ojson = original_json
this.flattenedjson = {}
this.flatten()
}
flatten() {
Object.keys(this.ojson).forEach(function(key){
if (this.ojson[key] == null) {
} else if (this.ojson[key].constructor == ({}).constructor) {
this.combine(new JSONFlattener(this.ojson[key]).returnJSON())
} else {
this.flattenedjson[key] = this.ojson[key]
}
}, this)
}
combine(new_json) {
//assumes new_json is a flat array
Object.keys(new_json).forEach(function(key){
if (!this.flattenedjson.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
this.flattenedjson[key] = new_json[key]
} else {
console.log(key+" is a duplicate key")
}
}, this)
}
returnJSON() {
return this.flattenedjson
}
}
console.log(new JSONFlattener(dad_dictionary).returnJSON())
As an example, it converts
nested_json = {
"a": {
"b": {
"c": {
"d": {
"a": 0
}
}
}
},
"z": {
"b":1
},
"d": {
"c": {
"c": 2
}
}
}
into
{ a: 0, b: 1, c: 2 }

You can try out the package jpflat.
It flattens, inflates, resolves promises, flattens arrays, has customizable path creation and customizable value serialization.
The reducers and serializers receive the whole path as an array of it's parts, so more complex operations can be done to the path instead of modifying a single key or changing the delimiter.
Json path is the default, hence "jp"flat.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/jpflat
let flatFoo = await require('jpflat').flatten(foo)

Construct array from flattened string in JavaScript

JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/3WdzL/1/
I need to convert locale JS object files to flattened versions and back again:
Orig locale object:
var localeObj = {
toolbar: {
link: {
back: 'Back',
menu: 'Menu',
},
flatTest: 'something'
},
countries: [
["AF", "Afghanistan"],
["AX", "Åland Islands"],
['nested', [1, 2, 3, 4]],
["AL", "Albania"]
]
};
Using the following function:
function flattenObj(obj) {
var flattenedObj = {};
var walk = function(obj, stringMap) {
for(k in obj) {
var computedKey = stringMap + (stringMap ? '.' + k : k);
if(typeof obj[k] !== 'object') {
flattenedObj[computedKey] = obj[k];
} else {
walk(obj[k], computedKey);
}
}
};
walk(obj, '');
return flattenedObj;
}
Would produce a flattened object:
{
toolbar.link.back: Back
toolbar.link.menu: Menu
toolbar.flatTest: something
countries.0.0: AF
countries.0.1: Afghanistan
countries.1.0: AX
countries.1.1: Åland Islands
countries.2.0: nested
countries.2.1.0: 1
countries.2.1.1: 2
countries.2.1.2: 3
countries.2.1.3: 4
countries.3.0: AL
countries.3.1: Albania
}
Converting back with the following func works fine for objects:
function deepenObj(obj) {
var deepenedObj = {}, tmp, parts, part;
for (var k in obj) {
tmp = deepenedObj;
parts = k.split('.');
var computedKey = parts.pop();
while (parts.length) {
part = parts.shift();
tmp = tmp[part] = tmp[part] || {};
}
tmp[computedKey] = obj[k];
}
return deepenedObj;
}
But produces a structure like this for the arrays:
region: {
country: {
0: {
0: 'AF',
1: 'Afghanistan'
},
...
2: {
0: 'nested',
1: {
0: 1,
1: 2,
3: 4,
4: 5
}
}
}
}
Obviously this isn't the desired results for the arrays and I haven't been able to come up with a safe, elegant or even working solution yet. PS I am happy to save the arrays to strings differently if it makes converting back easier. Thanks!

You should either keep track if an object is actually an array:
var walk = function(obj, stringMap) {
if (Array.isArray(obj) {
for (var k = 0; k < obj.length; k++)
var computedKey = stringMap ? stringMap + ',' + k : k;
} else {
for (var k in obj) {
var computedKey = stringMap ? stringMap + '.' + k : k;
...
Then, when deepening:
for (var k in obj) {
tmp = deepenedObj;
parts = ["."].concat(k.split(/([\.,])/));
var computedKey = parts.pop(), sign;
while (parts.length) {
sign = parts.shift();
part = !parts.length ? computedKey : parts.shift();
tmp = tmp[part] = tmp[part] || (sign === "," ? [] : {});
}
tmp[computedKey] = obj[k];
}
Note that Array.isArray could be undefined. You can use obj instanceof Array instead.
This solution works if localeObj is an object literal and not an array, because the first point/comma isn't saved in the computed key. You can modify the function if you need to.
The trick here is to use an unusual behaviour of split that pushes captured groups in the splitted array when used with regular expressions, so before every key part there's the proper separator.

Use JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse():
var flattenedObj = JSON.stringify(localeObj);
vat deepenedObj = JSON.parse(flattenedObj);
Demo