How to set object property (of object property of..) given its string name in JavaScript?

Question

Suppose we are only given

var obj = {};
var propName = \"foo.bar.foobar\";

How can we set the prop

Answer 1

A very straightforward one.

No recursions or callbacks overhead.

function setDeepVal(obj, path, val) {
  var props = path.split('.');
  for (var i = 0, n = props.length - 1; i < n; ++i) {
    obj = obj[props[i]] = obj[props[i]] || {};
  }
  obj[props[i]] = val;
  return obj;
}



// TEST
var obj = { hello : 'world' };
setDeepVal(obj, 'foo.bar.baz', 1);
setDeepVal(obj, 'foo.bar2.baz2', 2);
console.log(obj);