Native deep cloning
It's called "structured cloning", works experimentally in Node 11 and later, and hopefully will land in browsers. See this answer for more details.
Fast cloning with data loss - JSON.parse/stringify
If you do not use Date
s, functions, undefined
, Infinity
, RegExps, Maps, Sets, Blobs, FileLists, ImageDatas, sparse Arrays, Typed Arrays or other complex types within your object, a very simple one liner to deep clone an object is:
JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(object))
const a = {
string: 'string',
number: 123,
bool: false,
nul: null,
date: new Date(), // stringified
undef: undefined, // lost
inf: Infinity, // forced to 'null'
re: /.*/, // lost
}
console.log(a);
console.log(typeof a.date); // Date object
const clone = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(a));
console.log(clone);
console.log(typeof clone.date); // result of .toISOString()
See Corban's answer for benchmarks.
Reliable cloning using a library
Since cloning objects is not trivial (complex types, circular references, function etc.), most major libraries provide function to clone objects. Don't reinvent the wheel - if you're already using a library, check if it has an object cloning function. For example,
- lodash -
cloneDeep
; can be imported separately via the lodash.clonedeep module and is probably your best choice if you're not already using a library that provides a deep cloning function
- AngularJS -
angular.copy
- jQuery -
jQuery.extend(true, { }, oldObject)
; .clone()
only clones DOM elements
- just library -
just-clone
; Part of a library of zero-dependency npm modules that do just do one thing.
Guilt-free utilities for every occasion.
ES6 (shallow copy)
For completeness, note that ES6 offers two shallow copy mechanisms: Object.assign()
and the spread syntax.
which copies values of all enumerable own properties from one object to another. For example:
var A1 = {a: "2"};
var A2 = Object.assign({}, A1);
var A3 = {...A1}; // Spread Syntax
In a language implementing classical inheritance like Java, C# or C++ you start by creating a class--a blueprint for your objects--and then you can create new objects from that class or you can extend the class, defining a new class that augments the original class.
In JavaScript you first create an object (there is no concept of class), then you can augment your own object or create new objects from it. It's not difficult, but a little foreign and hard to metabolize for somebody used to the classical way.
Example:
//Define a functional object to hold persons in JavaScript
var Person = function(name) {
this.name = name;
};
//Add dynamically to the already defined object a new getter
Person.prototype.getName = function() {
return this.name;
};
//Create a new object of type Person
var john = new Person("John");
//Try the getter
alert(john.getName());
//If now I modify person, also John gets the updates
Person.prototype.sayMyName = function() {
alert('Hello, my name is ' + this.getName());
};
//Call the new method on john
john.sayMyName();
Until now I've been extending the base object, now I create another object and then inheriting from Person.
//Create a new object of type Customer by defining its constructor. It's not
//related to Person for now.
var Customer = function(name) {
this.name = name;
};
//Now I link the objects and to do so, we link the prototype of Customer to
//a new instance of Person. The prototype is the base that will be used to
//construct all new instances and also, will modify dynamically all already
//constructed objects because in JavaScript objects retain a pointer to the
//prototype
Customer.prototype = new Person();
//Now I can call the methods of Person on the Customer, let's try, first
//I need to create a Customer.
var myCustomer = new Customer('Dream Inc.');
myCustomer.sayMyName();
//If I add new methods to Person, they will be added to Customer, but if I
//add new methods to Customer they won't be added to Person. Example:
Customer.prototype.setAmountDue = function(amountDue) {
this.amountDue = amountDue;
};
Customer.prototype.getAmountDue = function() {
return this.amountDue;
};
//Let's try:
myCustomer.setAmountDue(2000);
alert(myCustomer.getAmountDue());
var Person = function (name) {
this.name = name;
};
Person.prototype.getName = function () {
return this.name;
};
var john = new Person("John");
alert(john.getName());
Person.prototype.sayMyName = function () {
alert('Hello, my name is ' + this.getName());
};
john.sayMyName();
var Customer = function (name) {
this.name = name;
};
Customer.prototype = new Person();
var myCustomer = new Customer('Dream Inc.');
myCustomer.sayMyName();
Customer.prototype.setAmountDue = function (amountDue) {
this.amountDue = amountDue;
};
Customer.prototype.getAmountDue = function () {
return this.amountDue;
};
myCustomer.setAmountDue(2000);
alert(myCustomer.getAmountDue());
While as said I can't call setAmountDue(), getAmountDue() on a Person.
//The following statement generates an error.
john.setAmountDue(1000);
Best Answer
Curly braces mean two things in javascript:
You've probably seen the second -- also known in other languages as "dictionaries", key-value pairs, associative arrays, etc:
When we say
it is the same as saying
The "confusing" thing in this case is that (1) the key and the value are identical/have the same character representation, and (2) the value is not a normal string or variable but, a function. That is, accessing the key "init" of your object/dictionary will give you a function that you can call with
()
.