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

Here is my code without using eval. Its easy to understand too.

function value(obj, props) {
  if (!props) return obj;
  var propsArr = props.split('.');
  var prop = propsArr.splice(0, 1);
  return value(obj[prop], propsArr.join('.'));
}

var obj = { a: { b: '1', c: '2', d:{a:{b:'blah'}}}};

console.log(value(obj, 'a.d.a.b')); //returns blah

Answer 2

Few years later, I found this that handles scope and array. e.g. a['b']["c"].d.etc

function getScopedObj(scope, str) {
  let obj=scope, arr;

  try {
    arr = str.split(/[\[\]\.]/) // split by [,],.
      .filter(el => el)             // filter out empty one
      .map(el => el.replace(/^['"]+|['"]+$/g, '')); // remove string quotation
    arr.forEach(el => obj = obj[el])
  } catch(e) {
    obj = undefined;
  }

  return obj;
}

window.a = {b: {c: {d: {etc: 'success'}}}}

getScopedObj(window, `a.b.c.d.etc`)             // success
getScopedObj(window, `a['b']["c"].d.etc`)       // success
getScopedObj(window, `a['INVALID']["c"].d.etc`) // undefined

Answer 3

Other proposals are a little cryptic, so I thought I'd contribute:

Object.prop = function(obj, prop, val){
    var props = prop.split('.')
      , final = props.pop(), p 
    while(p = props.shift()){
        if (typeof obj[p] === 'undefined')
            return undefined;
        obj = obj[p]
    }
    return val ? (obj[final] = val) : obj[final]
}

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

// get
console.log(Object.prop(obj, 'a.c')) // -> 2
// set
Object.prop(obj, 'a.c', function(){})
console.log(obj) // -> { a: { b: '1', c: [Function] } }

Answer 4

var a = { b: { c: 9 } };

function value(layer, path, value) {
    var i = 0,
        path = path.split('.');

    for (; i < path.length; i++)
        if (value != null && i + 1 === path.length)
            layer[path[i]] = value;
        layer = layer[path[i]];

    return layer;
};

value(a, 'b.c'); // 9

value(a, 'b.c', 4);

value(a, 'b.c'); // 4

This is a lot of code when compared to the much simpler eval way of doing it, but like Simon Willison says, you should never use eval.

Also, JSFiddle.

Answer 5

I used this code in my project

const getValue = (obj, arrPath) => (
  arrPath.reduce((x, y) => {
    if (y in x) return x[y]
    return {}
  }, obj)
)

Usage:

const obj = { id: { user: { local: 104 } } }
const path = [ 'id', 'user', 'local' ]
getValue(obj, path) // return 104

Answer 6

Many years since the original post. Now there is a great library called 'object-path'. https://github.com/mariocasciaro/object-path

Available on NPM and BOWER https://www.npmjs.com/package/object-path

It's as easy as:

objectPath.get(obj, "a.c.1");  //returns "f"
objectPath.set(obj, "a.j.0.f", "m");

And works for deeply nested properties and arrays.