How to loop through a plain JavaScript object with the objects as members

Asked 2023-09-21 08:10:45 View 819,025

How can I loop through all members in a JavaScript object, including values that are objects?

For example, how could I loop through this (accessing the "your_name" and "your_message" for each)?

var validation_messages = {
    "key_1": {
        "your_name": "jimmy",
        "your_msg": "hello world"
    },
    "key_2": {
        "your_name": "billy",
        "your_msg": "foo equals bar"
    }
}

Answers

for (var key in validation_messages) {
    // skip loop if the property is from prototype
    if (!validation_messages.hasOwnProperty(key)) continue;

    var obj = validation_messages[key];
    for (var prop in obj) {
        // skip loop if the property is from prototype
        if (!obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) continue;

        // your code
        alert(prop + " = " + obj[prop]);
    }
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • Internet Explorer does not agree (sigh), says "Object does not support this property or method" when you do obj[prop]. I have yet to find a solution to this. - anyone
  • @MildFuzz actually it makes sense if you consider that JS objects do not necessary have numerical keys. You can't just iterate through an object. JS's for in is very similar to a traditional foreach. - anyone
  • for...in is a good solution, but if you use promises in the for()-loop be careful, because if you create a var in the loop, you can't use it in the promise' then-function. You var in the loop exists only one time, so it has in every then-function the same, even the last value. If you have that problem, try "Object.keys(obj).forEach" or my answer below. - anyone
  • hasOwnProperty is almost always redundant for modern browsers (IE9 +). - anyone
  • You are not supposed to use a var in a for loop. You need to use the let keyword. - anyone

Under ECMAScript 5, you can combine Object.keys() and Array.prototype.forEach():

var obj = {
  first: "John",
  last: "Doe"
};

//
//	Visit non-inherited enumerable keys
//
Object.keys(obj).forEach(function(key) {

  console.log(key, obj[key]);

});

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • +1 for brevity of code but apparently, doesn't perform as efficient as a for surprisingly. JSPerf - for in vs Object.keys - anyone
  • Beware of this error using this approach: "TypeError: Object.keys called on non-object". The for ... in ... hasOwnProperty pattern can be called on anything, as far as I can tell (object, array, null, undefined, true, false, number primitive, objects). - anyone
  • @techiev2 those tests were never valid. See my updated ones for the current state of performance: jsperf.com/objdir/20 - anyone
  • @techiev2: it's not Object.keys() which makes it slow, it's rather the forEach() and the repeated access to .length! If you use a classic for-loop instead, it's almost twice as fast as for..in + hasOwnProperty() in Firefox 33. - anyone
  • @techiev2 that is not surprising at all, Axel Rauschmayer's method is using keys function and forEach function and it needs to parse the anonymous function and then it calls the anonymous function on each element of the forEach loop. If you know about programming you will understand all this parsing and function calls is taking much more time than a native solution like the for structure loop. - anyone

In ES6/2015 you can loop through an object like this (using the arrow function):

Object.keys(myObj).forEach(key => {
  console.log(key);        // the name of the current key.
  console.log(myObj[key]); // the value of the current key.
});

JS Bin

In ES7/2016 you can use Object.entries instead of Object.keys and loop through an object like this:

Object.entries(myObj).forEach(([key, val]) => {
  console.log(key); // the name of the current key.
  console.log(val); // the value of the current key.
});

The above would also work as a one-liner:

Object.entries(myObj).forEach(([key, val]) => console.log(key, val));

jsbin

In case you want to loop through nested objects as well, you can use a recursive function (ES6):

const loopNestedObj = obj => {
  Object.keys(obj).forEach(key => {
    if (obj[key] && typeof obj[key] === "object") loopNestedObj(obj[key]); // recurse.
    else console.log(key, obj[key]); // or do something with key and val.
  });
};

JS Bin

The same as function above, but with ES7 Object.entries() instead of Object.keys():

const loopNestedObj = obj => {
  Object.entries(obj).forEach(([key, val]) => {
    if (val && typeof val === "object") loopNestedObj(val); // recurse.
    else console.log(key, val); // or do something with key and val.
  });
};

Here we loop through nested objects change values and return a new object in one go using Object.entries() combined with Object.fromEntries() (ES10/2019):

const loopNestedObj = obj =>
  Object.fromEntries(
    Object.entries(obj).map(([key, val]) => {
      if (val && typeof val === "object") [key, loopNestedObj(val)]; // recurse
      else [key, updateMyVal(val)]; // or do something with key and val.
    })
  );

Another way of looping through objects is by using for ... in and for ... of. See vdegenne's nicely written answer.

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • for your ES7 using Object.entries example, you need to wrap the arrow function parameters [key,val] in parentheses like: `Object.entries(myObj).forEach(([key, val]) => { /* statements*/ } - anyone
  • I think it would be useful to add the fact that Object.entries and Object.keys does not iterate over the prototype which is the big difference between it and the for in construct. - anyone

The problem with this

for (var key in validation_messages) {
   var obj = validation_messages[key];
   for (var prop in obj) {
      alert(prop + " = " + obj[prop]);
   }
}

is that you’ll also loop through the primitive object's prototype.

With this one you will avoid it:

for (var key in validation_messages) {
   if (validation_messages.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
      var obj = validation_messages[key];
      for (var prop in obj) {
         if (obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
            alert(prop + " = " + obj[prop]);
         }
      }
   }
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • In short: check hasOwnProperty inside your for-in loops. - anyone
  • Note that this is only necessary if your object HAS prototype methods. For example, if the object you're looping through is just a JSON object, you won't need this check. - anyone
  • @rednaw To be safe I use that check because Object.prototype can be modified. No sane script would do that, but you cannot control what scripts might be run in your page by insane browser extensions. Browser extensions run in your page (on most browsers) and they can cause odd problems (e.g. set window.setTimeout to null!). - anyone

Using Underscore.js’s _.each:

_.each(validation_messages, function(value, key){
    _.each(value, function(value, key){
        console.log(value);
    });
});

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • Thanks Tim, using underscore so definitely good to have a quick and clean option. - anyone

This answer is an aggregate of the solutions that were provided in this post with some performance feedbacks. I think there is two use cases and the OP didn't mention if he needs to access the keys in order use them during the loop process.

I. The keys need to be accessed

✔ The of and Object.keys approach

let k;
for (k of Object.keys(obj)) {

    /*        k : key
     *   obj[k] : value
     */
}

✔ The in approach

let k;
for (k in obj) {

    /*        k : key
     *   obj[k] : value
     */
}

Use this one with caution, as it could print prototype'd properties of obj

✔ The ES7 approach

for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(obj)) {

}

However, at the time of the edit I wouldn't recommend the ES7 method, because JavaScript initializes a lot of variables internally to build this procedure (see the feedbacks for proof). Unless you are not developing a huge application which deserves optimization, then it is OK, but if optimization is your priority, you should think about it.

II. We just need to access each value

✔ The of and Object.values approach

let v;
for (v of Object.values(obj)) {

}

More feedbacks about the tests:

  • Caching Object.keys or Object.values performance is negligible

For instance,

const keys = Object.keys(obj);
let i;
for (i of keys) {
  //
}
// same as
for (i of Object.keys(obj)) {
  //
}
  • For Object.values case, using a native for loop with cached variables in Firefox seems to be a little faster than using a for...of loop. However, the difference is not that important and Chrome is running for...of faster than native for loop, so I would recommend to use for...of when dealing with Object.values in any cases (4th and 6th tests).

  • In Firefox, the for...in loop is really slow, so when we want to cache the key during the iteration it is better to use Object.keys. Plus Chrome is running both structure at equal speed (first and last tests).

You can check the tests here: https://jsperf.com/es7-and-misc-loops

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

If you use recursion you can return object properties of any depth-

function lookdeep(object){
    var collection= [], index= 0, next, item;
    for(item in object){
        if(object.hasOwnProperty(item)){
            next= object[item];
            if(typeof next== 'object' && next!= null){
                collection[index++]= item +
                ':{ '+ lookdeep(next).join(', ')+'}';
            }
            else collection[index++]= [item+':'+String(next)];
        }
    }
    return collection;
}

//example

var O={
    a:1, b:2, c:{
        c1:3, c2:4, c3:{
            t:true, f:false
        }
    },
    d:11
};
var lookdeepSample= 'O={'+ lookdeep(O).join(',\n')+'}';


/*  returned value: (String)
O={
    a:1, 
    b:2, 
    c:{
        c1:3, c2:4, c3:{
            t:true, f:false
        }
    },
    d:11
}

*/

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • Beware of loops, like calling this on a DOM node. - anyone
for(var k in validation_messages) {
    var o = validation_messages[k];
    do_something_with(o.your_name);
    do_something_else_with(o.your_msg);
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

An optimized and improved version of AgileJon's answer:

var key, obj, prop, owns = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty;

for (key in validation_messages ) {

    if (owns.call(validation_messages, key)) {

        obj = validation_messages[key];

        for (prop in obj ) {

            // Using obj.hasOwnProperty might cause you headache if there is
            // obj.hasOwnProperty = function(){return false;}
            // but 'owns' will always work
            if (owns.call(obj, prop)) {
                console.log(prop, "=", obj[prop]);
            }
        }
    }
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • Why are you storing hasOwnProperty in owns and then calling owns.call(obj, prop) instead of just calling obj.hasOwnProperty(prop) as this answer does? - anyone
  • Because obj might have the hasOwnProperty function defined on it self so it will not use the one from Object.prototype. You can try before the for loop like this obj.hasOwnProperty = function(){return false;} and it will not iterate over any property. - anyone
  • @Azder +1 for the answer and +1 if I could for the nice thing about Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty. I saw that previously inside the source code of the underscore library but don't know why. - anyone

p is the value

for (var key in p) {
  alert(key + ' => ' + p[key]);
}

OR

Object.keys(p).forEach(key => { console.log(key, p[key]) })

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

In ES7 you can do:

for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(obj)) {
  //
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • I made some tests, this method is really slow when dealing with large amount of data. - anyone
for(var key in validation_messages){
    for(var subkey in validation_messages[key]){
        //code here
        //subkey being value, key being 'yourname' / 'yourmsg'
    }
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

A few ways to do that...

1) A two-layer for...in loop...

for (let key in validation_messages) {
   const vmKeys = validation_messages[key];
   for (let vmKey in vmKeys) {
      console.log(vmKey + vmKeys[vmKey]);
   }
}

2) Using Object.key

Object.keys(validation_messages).forEach(key => {
   const vmKeys = validation_messages[key];
   Object.keys(vmKeys).forEach(key => {
    console.log(vmKeys + vmKeys[key]);
   });
});

3) Recursive function

const recursiveObj = obj => {
  for(let key in obj){
    if(!obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) continue;

    if(typeof obj[key] !== 'object'){
      console.log(key + obj[key]);
    } else {
      recursiveObj(obj[key]);
    }
  }
}

And call it like:

recursiveObj(validation_messages);

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

Another option:

var testObj = {test: true, test1: false};
for(let x of Object.keys(testObj)){
    console.log(x);
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

  • I tried your solution in Chrome 55.0 and you get a type error. Your answer looks nice and succinct, if you can get it working it would probably be one of the better options. I tried to figgure it out but don't understand your solution. - anyone

There are so many ways to traverse an object. Please have a look at below examples.

var obj = {'name':'John Doe','email':'johndoe@example.com'}

Approach 1

var keys = Object.keys(obj)
for(var i= 0; i < keys.length;i++){
  console.log(keys[i]+ ': ' + obj[keys[i]])
}

Approach 2

for(var key in obj){
  console.log(key+': '+ obj[key])
}

Approach 3

Object.keys(obj).forEach(function (key) {
  console.log(key+ ': ' + obj[key])
})

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

Here comes the improved and recursive version of AgileJon's solution (demo):

function loopThrough(obj){
  for(var key in obj){
    // skip loop if the property is from prototype
    if(!obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) continue;

    if(typeof obj[key] !== 'object'){
      //your code
      console.log(key+" = "+obj[key]);
    } else {
      loopThrough(obj[key]);
    }
  }
}
loopThrough(validation_messages);

This solution works for all kinds of different depths.

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

ECMAScript 2017, just finalized a month ago, introduces Object.values(). So now you can do this:

let v;
for (v of Object.values(validation_messages))
   console.log(v.your_name);   // jimmy billy

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

var validation_messages = {
    "key_1": {
        "your_name": "jimmy",
        "your_msg": "hello world"
    },
    "key_2": {
        "your_name": "billy",
        "your_msg": "foo equals bar"
    }
}
for (var i in validation_messages) {
    console.log("i = \"" + i + "\"");
    console.log("validation_messages[\"" + i + "\"] = ");
    console.log(validation_messages[i]);
    console.log("\n");
    for (var j in validation_messages[i]) {
        console.log("j = \"" + j + "\"");
        console.log("validation_messages[\"" + i + "\"][\"" + j + "\"] = \"" + validation_messages[i][j] + "\"");
        console.log("\n");
    }
    console.log('\n');
}

Outputs:

i = "key_1"
validation_messages["key_1"] = 
{
  your_name:"jimmy",
  your_msg:"hello world"
}

j = "your_name"
validation_messages["key_1"]["your_name"] = "jimmy"

j = "your_msg"
validation_messages["key_1"]["your_msg"] = "hello world"


i = "key_2"
validation_messages["key_2"] = 
{
  your_name:"billy",
  your_msg:"foo equals bar"
}

j = "your_name"
validation_messages["key_2"]["your_name"] = "billy"

j = "your_msg"
validation_messages["key_2"]["your_msg"] = "foo equals bar"

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

I think it's worth pointing out that jQuery sorts this out nicely with $.each().

See: .each()

Example:

$('.foo').each(function() {
    console.log($(this));
});

$(this) being the single item inside the object. Swap $('.foo') to a variable if you don't want to use jQuery's selector engine.

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

I couldn't get the previous answere to do quite what I was after.

After playing around with the other replies here, I made this. It's hacky, but it works!

For this object:

var myObj = {
    pageURL    : "BLAH",
    emailBox   : {model:"emailAddress", selector:"#emailAddress"},
    passwordBox: {model:"password"    , selector:"#password"}
};

... this code:

// Get every value in the object into a separate array item ...
function buildArray(p_MainObj, p_Name) {
    var variableList = [];
    var thisVar = "";
    var thisYes = false;
    for (var key in p_MainObj) {
       thisVar = p_Name + "." + key;
       thisYes = false;
       if (p_MainObj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
          var obj = p_MainObj[key];
          for (var prop in obj) {
            var myregex = /^[0-9]*$/;
            if (myregex.exec(prop) != prop) {
                thisYes = true;
                variableList.push({item:thisVar + "." + prop,value:obj[prop]});
            }
          }
          if ( ! thisYes )
            variableList.push({item:thisVar,value:obj});
       }
    }
    return variableList;
}

// Get the object items into a simple array ...
var objectItems = buildArray(myObj, "myObj");

// Now use them / test them etc... as you need to!
for (var x=0; x < objectItems.length; ++x) {
    console.log(objectItems[x].item + " = " + objectItems[x].value);
}

... produces this in the console:

myObj.pageURL = BLAH
myObj.emailBox.model = emailAddress
myObj.emailBox.selector = #emailAddress
myObj.passwordBox.model = password
myObj.passwordBox.selector = #password

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

var obj = {
    name: "SanD",
    age: "27"
}
Object.keys(obj).forEach((key) => console.log(key,obj[key]));

To loop through the JavaScript Object we can use forEach and to optimize the code we can use the arrow function.

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

using lodash _.forEach:

_.forEach({ 'a': 1, 'b': 2 }, function(value, key) {
  console.log(key, value);
});
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.21/lodash.min.js"></script>

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

forEach2

(Found here):

var lunch = {
    sandwich: 'ham',
    age: 48,
};
lunch.forEach2(function (item, key) {
    console.log(key);
    console.log(item);
});

Code:

if (!Object.prototype.forEach2) {
    Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, 'forEach2', {
        value: function (callback, thisArg) {
            if (this == null) {
                throw new TypeError('Not an object');
            }
            thisArg = thisArg || window;
            for (var key in this) {
                if (this.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
                    callback.call(thisArg, this[key], key, this);
                }
            }
        }
    });
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

In 2023+ you want immutable and universal functions

This walks through your multidimensional object composed of sub-objects, arrays and string and apply a custom function:

export const iterate = (object, func) => {
  const entries = Object.entries(object).map(([key, value]) =>
    Array.isArray(value)
      ? [key, value.map(e => iterate(e, func))]
      : typeof value === 'object'
      ? [key, iterate(value, func)]
      : [key, func(value)]
  );
  return Object.fromEntries(entries);
};

Usage:

const r = iterate(data, e=>'converted_'+e);
console.log(r);

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

Using ES8 Object.entries() should be a more compact way to achieve this.

Object.entries(validation_messages).map(([key,object]) => {

    alert(`Looping through key : ${key}`);

    Object.entries(object).map(([token, value]) => {
        alert(`${token} : ${value}`);
    });
});

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

The solution that works for me is the following:

_private.convertParams = function(params){
    var params = [];
    Object.keys(values).forEach(function(key) {
        params.push({"id":key, "option":"Igual", "value":params[key].id})
    });
    return params;
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

Exotic one - deep traverse

JSON.stringify(validation_messages,(field,value)=>{
  if(!field) return value;

  // ... your code

  return value;
})

In this solution we use replacer which allows to deep traverse the whole object and nested objects - on each level you will get all fields and values. If you need to get the full path to each field, look here.

var validation_messages = {
    "key_1": {
        "your_name": "jimmy",
        "your_msg": "hello world"
    },
    "key_2": {
        "your_name": "billy",
        "your_msg": "foo equals bar",
        "deep": {
          "color": "red",
          "size": "10px"
        }
    }
}

JSON.stringify(validation_messages,(field,value)=>{
  if(!field) return value;

  console.log(`key: ${field.padEnd(11)} - value: ${value}`);

  return value;
})

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

var validation_messages = {
    "key_1": {
        "your_name": "jimmy",
        "your_msg": "hello world"
    },
    "key_2": {
        "your_name": "billy",
        "your_msg": "foo equals bar"
    }
}

for ( const item in validation_messages ) {
    console.log( item )
    console.log( validation_messages[item]["your_name"] )   
    console.log( validation_messages[item]["your_msg"] )
    console.log( '---')
}

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45

In my case (on the basis of the preceding) it is possible for any number of levels.

var myObj = {
    rrr: undefined,
    pageURL    : "BLAH",
    emailBox   : {model:"emailAddress", selector:"#emailAddress"},
    passwordBox: {model:"password"    , selector:"#password"},
    proba: {odin:{dva:"rr",trr:"tyuuu"}, od:{ff:5,ppa:{ooo:{lll:'lll'}},tyt:'12345'}}
};


function lookdeep(obj,p_Name,gg){
    var A=[], tem, wrem=[], dd=gg?wrem:A;
    for(var p in obj){
        var y1=gg?'':p_Name, y1=y1 + '.' + p;
        if(obj.hasOwnProperty(p)){
           var tem=obj[p];
           if(tem && typeof tem=='object'){
               a1=arguments.callee(tem,p_Name,true);
               if(a1 && typeof a1=='object'){for(i in a1){dd.push(y1 + a1[i])};}
            }
            else{
               dd.push(y1 + ':' + String(tem));
            }
        }
    };
    return dd
};


var s=lookdeep(myObj,'myObj',false);
for (var x=0; x < s.length; ++x) {
console.log(s[x]+'\n');}

Result:

["myObj.rrr:undefined",
"myObj.pageURL:BLAH",
"myObj.emailBox.model:emailAddress",
"myObj.emailBox.selector:#emailAddress",
"myObj.passwordBox.model:password",
"myObj.passwordBox.selector:#password",
"myObj.proba.odin.dva:rr",
"myObj.proba.odin.trr:tyuuu",
"myObj.proba.od.ff:5",
"myObj.proba.od.ppa.ooo.lll:lll",
"myObj.proba.od.tyt:12345"]

Answered   2023-09-21 08:10:45