Object comparison in JavaScript [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• How to determine equality for two JavaScript objects? 52 answers

What is the best way to compare objects in JavaScript?

Example:

var user1 = {name : "nerd", org: "dev"};
var user2 = {name : "nerd", org: "dev"};
var eq = user1 == user2;
alert(eq); // gives false

I know that two objects are equal if they refer to the exact same object, but is there a way to check if they have the same attributes' values?

The following way works for me, but is it the only possibility?

var eq = Object.toJSON(user1) == Object.toJSON(user2);
alert(eq); // gives true

Answer 1

  Utils.compareObjects = function(o1, o2){
    for(var p in o1){
        if(o1.hasOwnProperty(p)){
            if(o1[p] !== o2[p]){
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
    for(var p in o2){
        if(o2.hasOwnProperty(p)){
            if(o1[p] !== o2[p]){
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
    return true;
};

Simple way to compare ONE-LEVEL only objects.

Answer 2

Here is my version, pretty much stuff from this thread is integrated (same counts for the test cases):

Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "equals", {
    enumerable: false,
    value: function (obj) {
        var p;
        if (this === obj) {
            return true;
        }

        // some checks for native types first

        // function and sring
        if (typeof(this) === "function" || typeof(this) === "string" || this instanceof String) { 
            return this.toString() === obj.toString();
        }

        // number
        if (this instanceof Number || typeof(this) === "number") {
            if (obj instanceof Number || typeof(obj) === "number") {
                return this.valueOf() === obj.valueOf();
            }
            return false;
        }

        // null.equals(null) and undefined.equals(undefined) do not inherit from the 
        // Object.prototype so we can return false when they are passed as obj
        if (typeof(this) !== typeof(obj) || obj === null || typeof(obj) === "undefined") {
            return false;
        }

        function sort (o) {
            var result = {};

            if (typeof o !== "object") {
                return o;
            }

            Object.keys(o).sort().forEach(function (key) {
                result[key] = sort(o[key]);
            });

            return result;
        }

        if (typeof(this) === "object") {
            if (Array.isArray(this)) { // check on arrays
                return JSON.stringify(this) === JSON.stringify(obj);                
            } else { // anyway objects
                for (p in this) {
                    if (typeof(this[p]) !== typeof(obj[p])) {
                        return false;
                    }
                    if ((this[p] === null) !== (obj[p] === null)) {
                        return false;
                    }
                    switch (typeof(this[p])) {
                    case 'undefined':
                        if (typeof(obj[p]) !== 'undefined') {
                            return false;
                        }
                        break;
                    case 'object':
                        if (this[p] !== null 
                                && obj[p] !== null 
                                && (this[p].constructor.toString() !== obj[p].constructor.toString() 
                                        || !this[p].equals(obj[p]))) {
                            return false;
                        }
                        break;
                    case 'function':
                        if (this[p].toString() !== obj[p].toString()) {
                            return false;
                        }
                        break;
                    default:
                        if (this[p] !== obj[p]) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }
                };

            }
        }

        // at least check them with JSON
        return JSON.stringify(sort(this)) === JSON.stringify(sort(obj));
    }
});

Here is my TestCase:

    assertFalse({}.equals(null));
    assertFalse({}.equals(undefined));

    assertTrue("String", "hi".equals("hi"));
    assertTrue("Number", new Number(5).equals(5));
    assertFalse("Number", new Number(5).equals(10));
    assertFalse("Number+String", new Number(1).equals("1"));

    assertTrue([].equals([]));
    assertTrue([1,2].equals([1,2]));
    assertFalse([1,2].equals([2,1]));
    assertFalse([1,2].equals([1,2,3]));

    assertTrue(new Date("2011-03-31").equals(new Date("2011-03-31")));
    assertFalse(new Date("2011-03-31").equals(new Date("1970-01-01")));

    assertTrue({}.equals({}));
    assertTrue({a:1,b:2}.equals({a:1,b:2}));
    assertTrue({a:1,b:2}.equals({b:2,a:1}));
    assertFalse({a:1,b:2}.equals({a:1,b:3}));

    assertTrue({1:{name:"mhc",age:28}, 2:{name:"arb",age:26}}.equals({1:{name:"mhc",age:28}, 2:{name:"arb",age:26}}));
    assertFalse({1:{name:"mhc",age:28}, 2:{name:"arb",age:26}}.equals({1:{name:"mhc",age:28}, 2:{name:"arb",age:27}}));

    assertTrue("Function", (function(x){return x;}).equals(function(x){return x;}));
    assertFalse("Function", (function(x){return x;}).equals(function(y){return y+2;}));

    var a = {a: 'text', b:[0,1]};
    var b = {a: 'text', b:[0,1]};
    var c = {a: 'text', b: 0};
    var d = {a: 'text', b: false};
    var e = {a: 'text', b:[1,0]};
    var f = {a: 'text', b:[1,0], f: function(){ this.f = this.b; }};
    var g = {a: 'text', b:[1,0], f: function(){ this.f = this.b; }};
    var h = {a: 'text', b:[1,0], f: function(){ this.a = this.b; }};
    var i = {
        a: 'text',
        c: {
            b: [1, 0],
            f: function(){
                this.a = this.b;
            }
        }
    };
    var j = {
        a: 'text',
        c: {
            b: [1, 0],
            f: function(){
                this.a = this.b;
            }
        }
    };
    var k = {a: 'text', b: null};
    var l = {a: 'text', b: undefined};

    assertTrue(a.equals(b));
    assertFalse(a.equals(c));
    assertFalse(c.equals(d));
    assertFalse(a.equals(e));
    assertTrue(f.equals(g));
    assertFalse(h.equals(g));
    assertTrue(i.equals(j));
    assertFalse(d.equals(k));
    assertFalse(k.equals(l));

Answer 3

If you work without the JSON library, maybe this will help you out:

Object.prototype.equals = function(b) {
    var a = this;
    for(i in a) {
        if(typeof b[i] == 'undefined') {
            return false;
        }
        if(typeof b[i] == 'object') {
            if(!b[i].equals(a[i])) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        if(b[i] != a[i]) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    for(i in b) {
        if(typeof a[i] == 'undefined') {
            return false;
        }
        if(typeof a[i] == 'object') {
            if(!a[i].equals(b[i])) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        if(a[i] != b[i]) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

var a = {foo:'bar', bar: {blub:'bla'}};
var b = {foo:'bar', bar: {blub:'blob'}};
alert(a.equals(b)); // alert's a false

Answer 4

if you want to check for methods explicitly you can use the method.toSource() or method.toString() methods.