I have an array of objects:
Object = {
1 : { name : bob , dinner : pizza },
2 : { name : john , dinner : sushi },
3 : { name : larry, dinner : hummus }
}
I want to be able to search the object/array for where the key is "dinner", and see if it matches "sushi".
I know jQuery has $.inArray, but it doesn't seem to work on arrays of objects. Or maybe I'm wrong. indexOf also seems to only work on one array level.
Is there no function or existing code for this?
If you have an array such as
var people = [
{ "name": "bob", "dinner": "pizza" },
{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" },
{ "name": "larry", "dinner": "hummus" }
];
You can use the filter method of an Array object:
people.filter(function (person) { return person.dinner == "sushi" });
// => [{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" }]
In newer JavaScript implementations you can use a function expression:
people.filter(p => p.dinner == "sushi")
// => [{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" }]
You can search for people who have "dinner": "sushi" using a map
people.map(function (person) {
if (person.dinner == "sushi") {
return person
} else {
return null
}
}); // => [null, { "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" }, null]
or a reduce
people.reduce(function (sushiPeople, person) {
if (person.dinner == "sushi") {
return sushiPeople.concat(person);
} else {
return sushiPeople
}
}, []); // => [{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" }]
I'm sure you are able to generalize this to arbitrary keys and values!
jQuery has a built-in method jQuery.grep that works similarly to the ES5 filter function from @adamse's Answer and should work fine on older browsers.
Using adamse's example:
var peoples = [
{ "name": "bob", "dinner": "pizza" },
{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" },
{ "name": "larry", "dinner": "hummus" }
];
you can do the following
jQuery.grep(peoples, function (person) { return person.dinner == "sushi" });
// => [{ "name": "john", "dinner": "sushi" }]
If you're going to be doing this search frequently, consider changing the format of your object so dinner actually is a key. This is kind of like assigning a primary clustered key in a database table. So, for example:
Obj = { 'pizza' : { 'name' : 'bob' }, 'sushi' : { 'name' : 'john' } }
You can now easily access it like this: Object['sushi']['name']
Or if the object really is this simple (just 'name' in the object), you could just change it to:
Obj = { 'pizza' : 'bob', 'sushi' : 'john' }
And then access it like: Object['sushi'].
It's obviously not always possible or to your advantage to restructure your data object like this, but the point is, sometimes the best answer is to consider whether your data object is structured the best way. Creating a key like this can be faster and create cleaner code.