When working with deeply nested objects in JavaScript, finding a specific property can be challenging. Using Lodash, a powerful utility library, simplifies this task with its robust set of functions. This guide explores how to effectively search for a property by name within a deeply nested object using Lodash, ensuring you can quickly and efficiently locate the data you need.

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• NPM (Node Package Manager)

Approach

In this approach, we look through a deeply nested object to find a specific property. for that we have used _.has() and _.isObject() methods. The findPropertyByName function takes the object and the property name to search for. It uses a helper function search to look at each level of the object. If the property is found, it stores the value in result. If not, it keeps looking through any nested objects. This method ensures you can find a property no matter how deeply it’s hidden in the object.

Install Lodash as a dependency:

npm install lodash

Dependencies:

"dependencies": {
    "lodash": "^4.17.21"
  }

Example: This example shows the implementation of the above-explained approach.

//src/index.js

const _ = require('lodash');

const deepObject = {
    level1: {
        level2: {
            level3: {
                target: 'found me!',
                anotherProperty: 'another value'
            },
            anotherLevel2Prop: {
                target: 'another target',
            }
        },
        level2Another: 'value'
    },
    level1Another: 'value'
};

const findPropertyByName = (obj, key) => {
    let result;
    const search = (obj) => {
        if (result !== undefined) return;
        if (_.has(obj, key)) {
            result = obj[key];
            return;
        }
        _.forOwn(obj, (value) => {
            if (_.isObject(value)) {
                search(value);
            }
        });
    };
    search(obj);
    return result;
};

const result = findPropertyByName(deepObject, 'target');
console.log(result);

Run the JavaScript code:

node src/index.js

Output:

found me!