One liner to flatten nested object

Question

I need to flatten a nested object. Need a one liner. Not sure what the correct term for this process is. I can use pure Javascript or libraries, I particularly like underscore.

I've got ...

{
  a:2,
  b: {
    c:3
  }
}

And I want ...

{
  a:2,
  c:3
}

I've tried ...

var obj = {"fred":2,"jill":4,"obby":{"john":5}};
var resultObj = _.pick(obj, "fred")
alert(JSON.stringify(resultObj));

Which works but I also need this to work ...

var obj = {"fred":2,"jill":4,"obby":{"john":5}};
var resultObj = _.pick(obj, "john")
alert(JSON.stringify(resultObj));

Answer 1

This is a function I've got in my common libraries for exactly this purpose. I believe I got this from a similar stackoverflow question, but cannot remember which (edit: Fastest way to flatten / un-flatten nested JSON objects - Thanks Yoshi!)

function flatten(data) {
    var result = {};
    function recurse (cur, prop) {
        if (Object(cur) !== cur) {
            result[prop] = cur;
        } else if (Array.isArray(cur)) {
             for(var i=0, l=cur.length; i<l; i++)
                 recurse(cur[i], prop + "[" + i + "]");
            if (l == 0)
                result[prop] = [];
        } else {
            var isEmpty = true;
            for (var p in cur) {
                isEmpty = false;
                recurse(cur[p], prop ? prop+"."+p : p);
            }
            if (isEmpty && prop)
                result[prop] = {};
        }
    }
    recurse(data, "");
    return result;
}

This can then be called as follows:

var myJSON = '{a:2, b:{c:3}}';
var myFlattenedJSON = flatten(myJSON);

You can also append this function to the standard Javascript string class as follows:

String.prototype.flattenJSON = function() {
    var data = this;
    var result = {};
    function recurse (cur, prop) {
        if (Object(cur) !== cur) {
            result[prop] = cur;
        } else if (Array.isArray(cur)) {
             for(var i=0, l=cur.length; i<l; i++)
                 recurse(cur[i], prop + "[" + i + "]");
            if (l == 0)
                result[prop] = [];
        } else {
            var isEmpty = true;
            for (var p in cur) {
                isEmpty = false;
                recurse(cur[p], prop ? prop+"."+p : p);
            }
            if (isEmpty && prop)
                result[prop] = {};
        }
    }
    recurse(data, "");
    return result;
}

With which, you can do the following:

var flattenedJSON = '{a:2, b:{c:3}}'.flattenJSON();

Answer 2

Here you go:

Object.assign({}, ...function _flatten(o) { return [].concat(...Object.keys(o).map(k => typeof o[k] === 'object' ? _flatten(o[k]) : ({[k]: o[k]})))}(yourObject))

Summary: recursively create an array of one-property objects, then combine them all with Object.assign.

This uses ES6 features including Object.assign or the spread operator, but it should be easy enough to rewrite not to require them.

For those who don't care about the one-line craziness and would prefer to be able to actually read it (depending on your definition of readability):

Object.assign(
  {}, 
  ...function _flatten(o) { 
    return [].concat(...Object.keys(o)
      .map(k => 
        typeof o[k] === 'object' ?
          _flatten(o[k]) : 
          ({[k]: o[k]})
      )
    );
  }(yourObject)
)

Answer 3

Here are vanilla solutions that work for arrays, primitives, regular expressions, functions, any number of nested object levels, and just about everything else I could throw at them. The first overwrites property values in the manner that you would expect from Object.assign.

((o) => {
  return o !== Object(o) || Array.isArray(o) ? {}
    : Object.assign({}, ...function leaves(o) {
    return [].concat.apply([], Object.entries(o)
      .map(([k, v]) => {
        return (( !v || typeof v !== 'object'
            || !Object.keys(v).some(key => v.hasOwnProperty(key))
            || Array.isArray(v))
          ? {[k]: v}
          : leaves(v)
        );
      })
    );
  }(o))
})(o)

The second accumulates values into an array.

((o) => {
  return o !== Object(o) || Array.isArray(o) ? {}
    : (function () {
      return Object.values((function leaves(o) {
        return [].concat.apply([], !o ? [] : Object.entries(o)
          .map(([k, v]) => {
            return (( !v || typeof v !== 'object'
                || !Object.keys(v).some(k => v.hasOwnProperty(k))
                || (Array.isArray(v) && !v.some(el => typeof el === 'object')))
              ? {[k]: v}
              : leaves(v)
            );
          })
        );
      }(o))).reduce((acc, cur) => {
        return ((key) => {
          acc[key] = !acc[key] ? [cur[key]]
            : new Array(...new Set(acc[key].concat([cur[key]])))
        })(Object.keys(cur)[0]) ? acc : acc
      }, {})
    })(o);
})(o)

Also please do not include code like this in production as it is terribly difficult to debug.

function leaves1(o) {
  return ((o) => {
    return o !== Object(o) || Array.isArray(o) ? {}
      : Object.assign({}, ...function leaves(o) {
      return [].concat.apply([], Object.entries(o)
        .map(([k, v]) => {
          return (( !v || typeof v !== 'object'
              || !Object.keys(v).some(key => v.hasOwnProperty(key))
              || Array.isArray(v))
            ? {[k]: v}
            : leaves(v)
          );
        })
      );
    }(o))
  })(o);
}

function leaves2(o) {
  return ((o) => {
    return o !== Object(o) || Array.isArray(o) ? {}
      : (function () {
        return Object.values((function leaves(o) {
          return [].concat.apply([], !o ? [] : Object.entries(o)
            .map(([k, v]) => {
              return (( !v || typeof v !== 'object'
                  || !Object.keys(v).some(k => v.hasOwnProperty(k))
                  || (Array.isArray(v) && !v.some(el => typeof el === 'object')))
                ? {[k]: v}
                : leaves(v)
              );
            })
          );
        }(o))).reduce((acc, cur) => {
          return ((key) => {
            acc[key] = !acc[key] ? [cur[key]]
              : new Array(...new Set(acc[key].concat([cur[key]])))
          })(Object.keys(cur)[0]) ? acc : acc
        }, {})
      })(o);
  })(o);
}

const obj = {
  l1k0: 'foo',
  l1k1: {
    l2k0: 'bar',
    l2k1: {
      l3k0: {},
      l3k1: null
    },
    l2k2: undefined
  },
  l1k2: 0,
  l2k3: {
    l3k2: true,
    l3k3: {
      l4k0: [1,2,3],
      l4k1: [4,5,'six', {7: 'eight'}],
      l4k2: {
        null: 'test',
        [{}]: 'obj',
        [Array.prototype.map]: Array.prototype.map,
        l5k3: ((o) => (typeof o === 'object'))(this.obj),
      }
    }
  },
  l1k4: '',
  l1k5: new RegExp(/[\s\t]+/g),
  l1k6: function(o) { return o.reduce((a,b) => a+b)},
  false: [],
}
const objs = [null, undefined, {}, [], ['non', 'empty'], 42, /[\s\t]+/g, obj];

objs.forEach(o => {
  console.log(leaves1(o));
});
objs.forEach(o => {
  console.log(leaves2(o));
});

Answer 4

It's not quite a one liner, but here's a solution that doesn't require anything from ES6. It uses underscore's extend method, which could be swapped out for jQuery's.

function flatten(obj) {
    var flattenedObj = {};
    Object.keys(obj).forEach(function(key){
        if (typeof obj[key] === 'object') {
            $.extend(flattenedObj, flatten(obj[key]));
        } else {
            flattenedObj[key] = obj[key];
        }
    });
    return flattenedObj;    
}

Answer 5

Simplified readable example, no dependencies

/**
 * Flatten a multidimensional object
 *
 * For example:
 *   flattenObject({ a: 1, b: { c: 2 } })
 * Returns:
 *   { a: 1, c: 2}
 */
export const flattenObject = (obj) => {
  const flattened = {}

  Object.keys(obj).forEach((key) => {
    if (typeof obj[key] === 'object' && obj[key] !== null) {
      Object.assign(flattened, flattenObject(obj[key]))
    } else {
      flattened[key] = obj[key]
    }
  })

  return flattened
}

Working example: https://jsfiddle.net/webbertakken/jn613d8p/2/

Answer 6

Here goes, not thoroughly tested. Utilizes ES6 syntax too!!

loopValues(val){
let vals = Object.values(val);
let q = [];
vals.forEach(elm => {
  if(elm === null || elm === undefined) { return; }
    if (typeof elm === 'object') {
      q = [...q, ...this.loopValues(elm)];
    }
    return q.push(elm);
  });
  return q;
}

let flatValues = this.loopValues(object)
flatValues = flatValues.filter(elm => typeof elm !== 'object');
console.log(flatValues);