Delete Key

Delete a key from a deeply nested JavaScript object.

Why?

There are a few other libs that already aid in deleting keys from objects. But none of them iteratively deletes the key if one of the nested objects is an array.

The following are the highlights of this delete-key library.

• Traverses through the exact path for maximum performance. Does not iterate over the keys to detect presence.
• Support for arrays in object path. Keys will be iteratively removed from each item in the array. (This is where del-key differs from lodash's _.unset() method)
• Accepts array index in path definition.
• Mutates the object.

Install

$ npm install --save del-key

Usage

Syntax

deleteKey(obj, pathToDelete)

obj - the object that has the key to be deleted

pathToDelete - the path to the key in the object in string notation

See examples below for more info.

Examples

import deleteKey from 'del-key'; // ES6 style import
// const deleteKey = require('del-key'); // ES5 style import

const obj = {
  nestedKey: {
    poorKey: 'hello',
    luckyKey: 'hi'
  }
}
deleteKey(obj, 'nestedKey.poorKey') // =>obj.nestedKey = { luckyKey: 'hi' }
//------------------------------------

const obj = {
  nestedArray: [{
    poorKey: 'first hello',
    luckyKey: 'first hi'
  }, {
    poorKey: 'second hello',
    luckyKey: 'second hi'
  }]
}
deleteKey(obj, 'nestedArray[0].poorKey')
// =>obj.nestedArray[0] = { luckyKey: 'first hi' }
// =>obj.nestedArray[1] = { poorKey: 'second hello', luckyKey: 'first hi' }
//------------------------------------

const obj = {
  nestedArray: [{
    poorKey: 'first hello',
    luckyKey: 'first hi'
  }, {
    poorKey: 'second hello',
    luckyKey: 'second hi'
  }]
}
deleteKey(obj, 'nestedArray.poorKey') // => iteratively removes poorKey from each item in nestedArray
// =>obj.nestedArray[0] = { luckyKey: 'first hi' }
// =>obj.nestedArray[1] = { luckyKey: 'first hi' }

License

MIT © Dineshkumar Pandiyan