undefsafe

Simple function for retrieving deep object properties without getting "Cannot read property 'X' of undefined"

Can also be used to safely set deep values.

Usage

var object = {
  a: {
    b: {
      c: 1,
      d: [1,2,3],
      e: 'remy'
    }
  }
};
 
console.log(undefsafe(object, 'a.b.e')); // "remy"
console.log(undefsafe(object, 'a.b.not.found')); // undefined

Demo: https://jsbin.com/eroqame/3/edit?js,console

Setting

var object = {
  a: {
    b: [1,2,3]
  }
};
 
// modified object
var res = undefsafe(object, 'a.b.0', 10);
 
console.log(object); // { a: { b: [10, 2, 3] } }
console.log(res); // 1 - previous value

Star rules in paths

As of 1.2.0, undefsafe supports a * in the path if you want to search all of the properties (or array elements) for a particular element.

The function will only return a single result, either the 3rd argument validation value, or the first positive match. For example, the following github data:

const githubData = {
        commits: [{
          modified: [
            "one",
            "two"
          ]
        }, /* ... */ ]
      };
 
// first modified file found in the first commit
console.log(undefsafe(githubData, 'commits.*.modified.0'));
 
// returns `two` or undefined if not found
console.log(undefsafe(githubData, 'commits.*.modified.*', 'two'));