Lodash’s _.pluck method is used to extract a list of property values from an array of objects, which has been deprecated and removed in newer versions of Lodash. Instead, Lodash now recommends using _.map a property accessor function.

These are the following topics that we are going to discuss:

What is Lodash _.pluck?

Lodash _.pluck was a method in Lodash used to extract the values of a specific property from a collection of objects. For example, if we want an array of objects and want to create a new array containing only the values of a specific property from each object then we can use the _.pluck method to do it easily.

You need to install the package to run the code:

npm install lodash

Note: The code below will not show the output as the recent version of Lodash does not have this function anymore.

Example: This example shows the use of the Lodash _.pluck() function.

const _ = require("lodash")

const people = [
    { name: 'John', age: 30 },
    { name: 'Jane', age: 25 },
    { name: 'Jack', age: 35 }
];

// Using _.pluck to get an array of names
const names = _.pluck(people, 'name');
console.log(names);

Output:

['John', 'Jane', 'Jack']

What happened to _.pluck in Lodash 4.x and Beyond?

In Lodash version 4.0.0 and later, _.pluck was removed and its functionality was merged into _.map to streamline and simplify the API. The _.map method now provides the same functionality as _.pluck by allowing you to extract a specific property from each object in a collection.

How to Achieve the Same Result with _.map?

We can achieve the same result as _.pluck using _.map by specifying a function to access the desired property.

Syntax:

_.map(collection, [iteratee=_.identity])

Example: This example shows the use of _.map() function.

const _ = require("lodash")
const people = [
    { name: 'John', age: 30 },
    { name: 'Jane', age: 25 },
    { name: 'Jack', age: 35 }
];

// Using _.map to get an array of names
const names = _.map(people, 'name');
console.log(names); 

Output:

[ 'John', 'Jane', 'Jack' ]

Conclusion

The deprecation of Lodash’s _.pluck in favor of _.map with a property accessor reflects an evolution towards a more versatile and consistent approach for handling data transformation in JavaScript. By using _.map, developers can achieve the same functionality as _.pluck while benefiting from a method that offers greater flexibility and integration with other Lodash functionalities.