Convert JavaScript string in dot notation into an object reference

Question

Given a JS object

var obj = { a: { b: \'1\', c: \'2\' } }

and a string

\"a.b\"

how can I convert the stri

Answer 1

I have extended the elegant answer by ninjagecko so that the function handles both dotted and/or array style references, and so that an empty string causes the parent object to be returned.

Here you go:

string_to_ref = function (object, reference) {
    function arr_deref(o, ref, i) { return !ref ? o : (o[ref.slice(0, i ? -1 : ref.length)]) }
    function dot_deref(o, ref) { return ref.split('[').reduce(arr_deref, o); }
    return !reference ? object : reference.split('.').reduce(dot_deref, object);
};

See my working jsFiddle example here: http://jsfiddle.net/sc0ttyd/q7zyd/