Given an object like this:
{ name: "joe" }
I want to get the value "name". I know I can use the for construct to iterate over the properties in an object, but the objects I'll be dealing with will always have a single key:value pair, and I won't know the name of the property. To further illustrate:
var a = { age: 24 };
console.log(myFunc(a)) // Displays "age"
var b = { job: "cook" };
console.log(myFunc(b)) // Displays "job"
Is there anyway to do this without iterating over the object? Also I'd like to do this in pure Javascript. No frameworks/libs involved.
It is good practice to use .hasOwnProperty to ensure you aren't returning a property from the Object prototype:
function myFunc(obj) {
for (var prop in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) return prop;
}
}
This seems to be about the best you can get:
function myFunc(v) {
for (var x in v) { return { prop: x, val: v[x] }; }
return null;
};
Nope, iteration is the only well-supported way to get the property name. So for...in time it is. Just hide it in a function and it'll look fine.
However, it might also be worth thinkin about whether you should be using a different kind of object for your purpose, say, {"property": "age", "value": 24}, or even ["age", 24]
You can iterate over the object's properties and simply return the first one.
function myFunc(obj) {
for (var prop in obj) {
return prop;
}
}
Edit: oops, you wanted the property name, not the value
Why not iterate? It's just one step. I don't think you can get it in any other way. You can even break after the first step if it makes you feel better.
Related
I have an issue that I am struggling to grasp. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have an Object, and I assign the current object state to a property on the current object.
example below:
var product = {
ropeType: 'blah',
ropePrice: 'blah',
ropeSections: {
name: 'blaah',
price: 'blaah'
},
memory: false
}
product.memory = product;
Now when I look at the product object within the console I get a inifinite recursion of Product.memory.Product.memory.Product....
screenshot below:
I know its something to do with that an object references itself, but I cannot seem to grasp the concept. Could someone explain?
The reason I am trying to do something like this is to save in local storage the current state of the object.
I hope I have made sense.
I assign the current object state to a property on the current object.
No, you created a property that referred to itself.
If you want to save the current state of the property then you need to clone the object.
If you want to create a (shallow) copy of an object then you can use:
function clone(obj) {
if(obj === null || typeof(obj) !== 'object' || 'isActiveClone' in obj)
return obj;
var temp = obj.constructor();
for(var key in obj) {
if(Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj, key)) {
obj['isActiveClone'] = null;
temp[key] = obj[key];
delete obj['isActiveClone'];
}
}
return temp;
}
[code taken from here - and modified slightly to do a shallow copy rather than recursive deep copy]
then do:
product.memory = clone( product );
You may find you get the issues with recursion if you clone it a second time and it copies the product.memory along with the rest of the object. In that case just delete product.memory before doing subsequent clones.
Something like:
function saveCurrentState( obj ){
if ( 'memory' in obj )
delete obj.memory;
obj.memory = clone( obj );
}
Aside
If you want a deep copy then you can do:
function deepCopy(obj){
return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj));
}
[As suggested here - but note the caveats it has for Date objects]
you could do your idea by clone the current product into new. We've Object.keys to get all attribute of object. So here is my idea :
product = {
ropeType: 'blah',
ropePrice: 'blah',
ropeSections: {
name: 'blaah',
price: 'blaah'
},
memory: false
};
var keys = Object.keys(product);
var newProduct = {};
keys.forEach(function(key){
if(key === 'memory') return;
newProduct[key] = product[key];
});
product.memory = newProduct;
Instead of actually storing a reference to the object, you might want to transform that object's state. Maybe by cloning it onto a new object or possibly keeping it as a JSON string (which you'll want to do if you're using localStorage).
Since you will probably want to see the current state of the object whenever you check the memory property, you should make memory a function that does that transformation.
Maybe something like this:
var product = {
ropeType: 'blah',
ropePrice: 'blah',
ropeSections: {
name: 'blaah',
price: 'blaah'
},
memory: function() {
return JSON.stringify(this);
}
}
You can then call product.memory() and get its state in JSON.
This here is the problem:
product.memory = product;
You're assigning a reference to an object to itself. JavaScript passes objects by reference, so it's never going to store a clone of itself through assignment.
If you're looking to record modifications made to the object over time, the best way would be to use an array to hold cloned copies of it (or at least the properties that've changed).
To give you the quickest example:
var Product = function(){
};
var product = new Product();
product.history = [];
product.saveState = function(){
var changes = {};
for(var i in this){
/** Prevent infinite self-referencing, and don't store this function itself. */
if(this[i] !== this.history && this[i] !== this.saveState){
changes[i] = this[i];
}
}
this.history.push(changes);
};
Obviously, there're many better ways to achieve this in JavaScript, but they require more explanation. Basically, looping through an object to store its properties is inevitably going to trip up upon the property that they're being assigned to, so a check is needed at some point to prevent self-referencing.
I am trying to make an Object who, when I search for a property, performs a "look-up" of that property case-insensitively.
var x = new CaseInsensitiveObject();
x.firstProperty = "Hello!";
alert(x.firstproperty); //alerts Hello!
I've tried using Object.defineProperty() for this, yet it requires the string literal for the property as a parameter (Object.defineProperties() will have the same problem if you think about it).
Is there a way that I can generic set the getter for all object properties of an object without providing the key name? i.e:
Object.defineAllProperties(obj, {
get: function(prop)
{
if(!prop.toLowerCase && prop.toString)
prop = prop.toString();
if(prop.toLowerCase)
prop = prop.toLowerCase();
return this[prop];
}
});
If not all properties, how could I set even one property of an Object to be case insensitive?!
NOTE:
I understand that extending the Object.prototype is generally a bad thing to do, but I have my reasons. I need a quick fix due to some database changes. The eventual fix will take days to do, and I need running software for QA to test against until then. This prototype method will make everything work while I make all of the necessary changes, and this method WILL NOT be put into any production environment. So, if you plan on shooting me down and yelling at me for even thinking about doing this, I'm not listening.
Thanks everybody!
So, after following #apsillers comment, I did solve my problem (I only needed support for lower-case and camel-case. This is not what I would consider ideal and does not actually answer my question of making a case-insensitive Object property, but I should share:
function makeCaseInsensitiveObject(obj)
{
var keys;
function PropertyScope(iObj, key, val)
{
var value = val;
var _get = function()
{
return value;
};
var _set = function(v)
{
value = v;
};
Object.defineProperty(iObj, key, {
get: _get,
set: _set
});
Object.defineProperty(iObj, key.toLowerCase(), {
get: _get,
set: _set
});
};
if(Object.keys)
keys = Object.keys(obj);
else
keys = getObjectKeys(obj);
for(var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++)
{
if(typeof keys[i] === 'string')
{
PropertyScope(obj, keys[i], obj[keys[i]]);
}
}
return obj;
};
Be aware that the case-insensitivity here will only apply to existing object properties, not any new ones.
Thanks everybody!
This question already has answers here:
How do I loop through or enumerate a JavaScript object?
(48 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
How do I enumerate the properties of a JavaScript object?
I actually want to list all the defined variables and their values, but I've learned that defining a variable actually creates a property of the window object.
Simple enough:
for(var propertyName in myObject) {
// propertyName is what you want
// you can get the value like this: myObject[propertyName]
}
Now, you will not get private variables this way because they are not available.
EDIT: #bitwiseplatypus is correct that unless you use the hasOwnProperty() method, you will get properties that are inherited - however, I don't know why anyone familiar with object-oriented programming would expect anything less! Typically, someone that brings this up has been subjected to Douglas Crockford's warnings about this, which still confuse me a bit. Again, inheritance is a normal part of OO languages and is therefore part of JavaScript, notwithstanding it being prototypical.
Now, that said, hasOwnProperty() is useful for filtering, but we don't need to sound a warning as if there is something dangerous in getting inherited properties.
EDIT 2: #bitwiseplatypus brings up the situation that would occur should someone add properties/methods to your objects at a point in time later than when you originally wrote your objects (via its prototype) - while it is true that this might cause unexpected behavior, I personally don't see that as my problem entirely. Just a matter of opinion. Besides, what if I design things in such a way that I use prototypes during the construction of my objects and yet have code that iterates over the properties of the object and I want all inherited properties? I wouldn't use hasOwnProperty(). Then, let's say, someone adds new properties later. Is that my fault if things behave badly at that point? I don't think so. I think this is why jQuery, as an example, has specified ways of extending how it works (via jQuery.extend and jQuery.fn.extend).
Use a for..in loop to enumerate an object's properties, but be careful. The enumeration will return properties not just of the object being enumerated, but also from the prototypes of any parent objects.
var myObject = {foo: 'bar'};
for (var name in myObject) {
alert(name);
}
// results in a single alert of 'foo'
Object.prototype.baz = 'quux';
for (var name in myObject) {
alert(name);
}
// results in two alerts, one for 'foo' and one for 'baz'
To avoid including inherited properties in your enumeration, check hasOwnProperty():
for (var name in myObject) {
if (myObject.hasOwnProperty(name)) {
alert(name);
}
}
Edit: I disagree with JasonBunting's statement that we don't need to worry about enumerating inherited properties. There is danger in enumerating over inherited properties that you aren't expecting, because it can change the behavior of your code.
It doesn't matter whether this problem exists in other languages; the fact is it exists, and JavaScript is particularly vulnerable since modifications to an object's prototype affects child objects even if the modification takes place after instantiation.
This is why JavaScript provides hasOwnProperty(), and this is why you should use it in order to ensure that third party code (or any other code that might modify a prototype) doesn't break yours. Apart from adding a few extra bytes of code, there is no downside to using hasOwnProperty().
The standard way, which has already been proposed several times is:
for (var name in myObject) {
alert(name);
}
However Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 have a bug in the JavaScript interpreter, which has the effect that some keys are not enumerated. If you run this code:
var obj = { toString: 12};
for (var name in obj) {
alert(name);
}
If will alert "12" in all browsers except IE. IE will simply ignore this key. The affected key values are:
isPrototypeOf
hasOwnProperty
toLocaleString
toString
valueOf
To be really safe in IE you have to use something like:
for (var key in myObject) {
alert(key);
}
var shadowedKeys = [
"isPrototypeOf",
"hasOwnProperty",
"toLocaleString",
"toString",
"valueOf"
];
for (var i=0, a=shadowedKeys, l=a.length; i<l; i++) {
if map.hasOwnProperty(a[i])) {
alert(a[i]);
}
}
The good news is that EcmaScript 5 defines the Object.keys(myObject) function, which returns the keys of an object as array and some browsers (e.g. Safari 4) already implement it.
In modern browsers (ECMAScript 5) to get all enumerable properties you can do:
Object.keys(obj)
(Check the link to get a snippet for backward compatibility on older browsers)
Or to get also non-enumerable properties:
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(obj)
Check ECMAScript 5 compatibility table
Additional info:
What is a enumerable attribute?
I think an example of the case that has caught me by surprise is relevant:
var myObject = { name: "Cody", status: "Surprised" };
for (var propertyName in myObject) {
document.writeln( propertyName + " : " + myObject[propertyName] );
}
But to my surprise, the output is
name : Cody
status : Surprised
forEach : function (obj, callback) {
for (prop in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(prop) && typeof obj[prop] !== "function") {
callback(prop);
}
}
}
Why? Another script on the page has extended the Object prototype:
Object.prototype.forEach = function (obj, callback) {
for ( prop in obj ) {
if ( obj.hasOwnProperty( prop ) && typeof obj[prop] !== "function" ) {
callback( prop );
}
}
};
for (prop in obj) {
alert(prop + ' = ' + obj[prop]);
}
Simple JavaScript code:
for(var propertyName in myObject) {
// propertyName is what you want.
// You can get the value like this: myObject[propertyName]
}
jQuery:
jQuery.each(obj, function(key, value) {
// key is what you want.
// The value is in: value
});
Here's how to enumerate an object's properties:
var params = { name: 'myname', age: 'myage' }
for (var key in params) {
alert(key + "=" + params[key]);
}
I found it... for (property in object) { // do stuff } will list all the properties, and therefore all the globally declared variables on the window object..
You can use the for of loop.
If you want an array use:
Object.keys(object1)
Ref. Object.keys()
If you are using the Underscore.js library, you can use function keys:
_.keys({one : 1, two : 2, three : 3});
=> ["one", "two", "three"]
Python's dict has 'keys' method, and that is really useful. I think in JavaScript we can have something this:
function keys(){
var k = [];
for(var p in this) {
if(this.hasOwnProperty(p))
k.push(p);
}
return k;
}
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "keys", { value : keys, enumerable:false });
EDIT: But the answer of #carlos-ruana works very well. I tested Object.keys(window), and the result is what I expected.
EDIT after 5 years: it is not good idea to extend Object, because it can conflict with other libraries that may want to use keys on their objects and it will lead unpredictable behavior on your project. #carlos-ruana answer is the correct way to get keys of an object.
If you're trying to enumerate the properties in order to write new code against the object, I would recommend using a debugger like Firebug to see them visually.
Another handy technique is to use Prototype's Object.toJSON() to serialize the object to JSON, which will show you both property names and values.
var data = {name: 'Violet', occupation: 'character', age: 25, pets: ['frog', 'rabbit']};
Object.toJSON(data);
//-> '{"name": "Violet", "occupation": "character", "age": 25, "pets": ["frog","rabbit"]}'
http://www.prototypejs.org/api/object/tojson
I'm still a beginner in JavaScript, but I wrote a small function to recursively print all the properties of an object and its children:
getDescription(object, tabs) {
var str = "{\n";
for (var x in object) {
str += Array(tabs + 2).join("\t") + x + ": ";
if (typeof object[x] === 'object' && object[x]) {
str += this.getDescription(object[x], tabs + 1);
} else {
str += object[x];
}
str += "\n";
}
str += Array(tabs + 1).join("\t") + "}";
return str;
}
Is it possible to loop through the properties in a JavaScript object? For instance, I have a JavaScript object defined as this:
myObject.options = {
property1: 'value 1',
property2: 'value 2'
};
Properties will get dynamically added to this object. Is there a way for me to just loop through and do a check if a property exists? If so, how?
Use _.forOwn().
_.forOwn(obj, function(value, key) { } );
https://lodash.com/docs#forOwn
Note that forOwn checks hasOwnProperty, as you usually need to do when looping over an object's properties. forIn does not do this check.
Yes you can and lodash is not needed... i.e.
for (var key in myObject.options) {
// check also if property is not inherited from prototype
if (myObject.options.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
var value = myObject.options[key];
}
}
Edit: the accepted answer (_.forOwn()) should be https://stackoverflow.com/a/21311045/528262
For your stated desire to "check if a property exists" you can directly use Lo-Dash's has.
var exists = _.has(myObject, propertyNameToCheck);
You can definitely do this with vanilla JS like stecb has shown, but I think each is the best answer to the core question concerning how to do it with lodash.
_.each( myObject.options, ( val, key ) => {
console.log( key, val );
} );
Like JohnnyHK mentioned, there is also the has method which would be helpful for the use case, but from what is originally stated set may be more useful. Let's say you wanted to add something to this object dynamically as you've mentioned:
let dynamicKey = 'someCrazyProperty';
let dynamicValue = 'someCrazyValue';
_.set( myObject.options, dynamicKey, dynamicValue );
That's how I'd do it, based on the original description.
Lets take below object as example
let obj = { property1: 'value 1', property2: 'value 2'};
First fetch all the key in the obj
let keys = Object.keys(obj) //it will return array of keys
and then loop through it
keys.forEach(key => //your way)
just putting all together
Object.keys(obj).forEach(key=>{/*code here*/})
In ES6, it is also possible to iterate over the values of an object using the for..of loop. This doesn't work right out of the box for JavaScript objects, however, as you must define an ##iterator property on the object. This works as follows:
The for..of loop asks the "object to be iterated over" (let's call it obj1 for an iterator object. The loop iterates over obj1 by successively calling the next() method on the provided iterator object and using the returned value as the value for each iteration of the loop.
The iterator object is obtained by invoking the function defined in the ##iterator property, or Symbol.iterator property, of obj1. This is the function you must define yourself, and it should return an iterator object
Here is an example:
const obj1 = {
a: 5,
b: "hello",
[Symbol.iterator]: function() {
const thisObj = this;
let index = 0;
return {
next() {
let keys = Object.keys(thisObj);
return {
value: thisObj[keys[index++]],
done: (index > keys.length)
};
}
};
}
};
Now we can use the for..of loop:
for (val of obj1) {
console.log(val);
} // 5 hello
It would be helpful to understand why you need to do this with lodash. If you just want to check if a key exists in an object, you don't need lodash.
myObject.options.hasOwnProperty('property');
If your looking to see if a value exists, you can use _.invert
_.invert(myObject.options)[value]
If you just want to loop through to map property values then use _.mapValues
If you are checking, if the property exists in the object as stated in the question asked, you can use lodash libray _.has method
_.has(object, path)
Let me give you an example, how to use it.
consider an object
const user = {
name : "prabhat",
age: 27,
height: "5.7"
}
if you want to check, if name property exist in the object,you can use _.has method as follows
_.has(user, 'name') //true
_.has(user, 'address') //false
you will get a boolean true/false in return.
I'm trying to create an object that contains an object, so think of it as a dictionary:
var dictionaries = {};
dictionaries.english_to_french =
{
{english:"hello",french:"bonjour"},
{english:"i want",french:"je veux"},
{english:"bla",french:"le bla"}
};
but it gives the error Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token {
what am I doing wrong?
Thanks !
Edit
I'm sorry that I did not clarify what I want to do.
Edited the code above.
You're trying to give your object a property, and that property will be a single object:
dictionaries.english_to_french =
{english:"hello",french:"bonjour"}
;
You don't need the extra { }. You could declare the whole thing at once:
var dictionaries = {
english_to_french: {
english: "hello", french: "bonjour"
}
};
I would suggest that a better format for your dictionaries might be:
var dictionaries = {
english_to_french: {
"hello": "bonjour",
"chicken": "poulet", // ? something like that
"Englishman": "rosbif"
}
};
That way you can look up words directly without having to search. You could then create the reverse dictionary from that:
dictionaries.french_to_english = function(dict) {
var rv = {};
for (var eword in dict)
rv[dict[eword]] = eword;
return rv;
}(dictionaries.english_to_french);
In order to nest two or more objects, the objects need to have an attribute assigned to them. For example,
{
"hello":{
"english":"hello",
"french":"bonjour",
"portuguese":"ola"
},
"good day":{...},
"how are you":{...}
}
"hello" at the beginning of the object would be the attribute. Then the object is its value. So that way you can access the object by accessing its attribute. Just putting an object in an object does not work. That's why you're getting your error.