How to find a object in a nested array using recursion in JS

Question

Consider the following deeply nested array:

const array = [
    {
        id: 1,
        name: \"bla\",
        children: [
            {
                id:         


        

Answer 1

You need to iterate through your objects and then need to be parse each object using recursion. Try the answer mentioned here: JavaScript recursive search in JSON object

code:

`function findNode(id, currentNode) { var i, currentChild, result;

if (id == currentNode.id) {
    return currentNode;
} else {

    // Use a for loop instead of forEach to avoid nested functions
    // Otherwise "return" will not work properly
    for (i = 0; i < currentNode.children.length; i += 1) {
        currentChild = currentNode.children[i];

        // Search in the current child
        result = findNode(id, currentChild);

        // Return the result if the node has been found
        if (result !== false) {
            return result;
        }
    }

    // The node has not been found and we have no more options
    return false;
}

}`

Answer 2

You can do:

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];
const findItemNested = (arr, itemId, nestingKey) => arr.reduce((a, c) => {
  return a.length
    ? a
    : c.id === itemId
      ? a.concat(c)
      : c[nestingKey]
        ? a.concat(findItemNested(c[nestingKey], itemId, nestingKey))
        : a
}, []);
const res = findItemNested(array, 959, "children");

if (res.length) {
  console.log(res[0]);
}

Answer 3

This will use recursive find by level, it'll try to find the item in array and then call itself with the children of each item in the array:

New browsers will have Array.prototype.flatten but in this case I've added the flatten function separately.

const array = [{"id":1,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":23,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":88,"name":"bla"},{"id":99,"name":"bla"}]},{"id":43,"name":"bla"},{"id":45,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":43,"name":"bla"},{"id":46,"name":"bla"}]}]},{"id":12,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":232,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":848,"name":"bla"},{"id":959,"name":"bla"}]},{"id":433,"name":"bla"},{"id":445,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":443,"name":"bla"},{"id":456,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":97,"name":"bla"},{"id":56,"name":"bla"}]}]}]},{"id":15,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":263,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":868,"name":"bla"},{"id":979,"name":"bla"}]},{"id":483,"name":"bla"},{"id":445,"name":"bla","children":[{"id":423,"name":"bla"},{"id":436,"name":"bla"}]}]}];


const flatten = (arr) =>
  arr.reduce((result, item) => result.concat(item), []);
const findBy = (findFunction, subItemsKey) => (array) =>
  //array is empty (can be when children of children of children does not exist)
  array.length === 0
    ? undefined //return undefined when array is empty
    : array.find(findFunction) || //return item if found
      findBy(findFunction, subItemsKey)(//call itself when item is not found
        flatten(
          //take children from each item and flatten it
          //([[child],[child,child]])=>[child,child,child]
          array.map((item) => item[subItemsKey] || []),
        ),
      );
const findChildrenById = (array) => (value) =>
  findBy((item) => item.id === value, 'children')(array);
const findInArray = findChildrenById(array);

console.log('found', findInArray(99));
console.log('not found', findInArray({}));

Answer 4

We use object-scan for most of our data processing. It's awesome for all sorts of things, but does take a while to wrap your head around. This is how one could answer your question:

const objectScan = require('object-scan');

const find = (data, id) => objectScan(['**(^children$).id'], {
  abort: true,
  rtn: 'parent',
  useArraySelector: false,
  filterFn: ({ value }) => value === id
})(data);

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];

console.log(find(array, 12));
// => { id: 12, name: 'bla', children: [ { id: 232, name: 'bla', children: [Array] }, { id: 433, name: 'bla' }, { id: 445, name: 'bla', children: [Array] } ] }
console.log(find(array, 483));
// => { id: 483, name: 'bla' }
console.log(find(array, 959));
// => { id: 959, name: 'bla' }
console.log(find(array, 1200));
// => undefined

Answer 5

You might use a recursive reduce:

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];

const findItemNested = (arr, itemId, nestingKey) => (
  arr.reduce((a, item) => {
    if (a) return a;
    if (item.id === itemId) return item;
    if (item[nestingKey]) return findItemNested(item[nestingKey], itemId, nestingKey)
  }, null)
);
const res = findItemNested(array, 959, "children");
console.log(res);

Answer 6

You might also use recursion with Array.find like below

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];


function findById(arr, id, nestingKey) {
  
  // if empty array then return
  if(arr.length == 0) return
  
  // return element if found else collect all children(or other nestedKey) array and run this function
  return arr.find(d => d.id == id) 
      || findById(arr.flatMap(d => d[nestingKey] || []), id) 
      || 'Not found'
}

console.log(findById(array, 12, 'children'))

console.log(findById(array, 483, 'children'))

console.log(findById(array, 1200, 'children'))