How to delete recursively undefined properties from an object - while keeping the constructor chain?

Question

This is a question similar to How to remove undefined and null values from an object using lodash?. However, the solutions proposed there do not conserve the constructor. In addition to that, I want to only delete those keys which starts, say with '_'.

Here is what I am looking for, and can't seem to manage to get from lodash :

Input : new Cons({key1 : 'value1', key2 : {key21 : 'value21', _key22: undefined}, key3: undefined, _key4 : undefined})

Output : {key1 : 'value1', key2 : {key21 : 'value21'}, key3: undefined}

where for example function Cons(obj){_.extend(this, obj)}

I have a solution with omitBy using lodash, however, I loose the constructor information (i.e. I cannot use instanceof Cons anymore to discriminate the object constructor). forIn looked like a good candidate for the recursive traversal but it only provides me with the value and the key. I also need the path in order to delete the object (with unset).

Please note that:

• the object is any valid javascript object
• the constructor is any javascript valid constructor, and the object comes with the constructor already set.
• the resulting object must have instanceof whatevertheconstructorwas still true

Is there a better solution (with lodash or else)?

Answer 1

You can create a function that recursively omits keys through the use of omitBy() and mapValues() as an assisting function for traversing keys recursively. Also note that this also supports array traversal for objects with nested arrays or top level arrays with nested objects.

function omitByRecursively(value, iteratee) {
  var cb = v => omitByRecursively(v, iteratee);
  return _.isObject(value)
    ? _.isArray(value)
      ? _.map(value, cb)
      : _(value).omitBy(iteratee).mapValues(cb).value()
    : value;
}

function Cons(obj) { 
  _.extend(this, omitByRecursively(obj, (v, k) => k[0] === '_'));
}

Example:

function omitByRecursively(value, iteratee) {
  var cb = v => omitByRecursively(v, iteratee);
  return _.isObject(value)
    ? _.isArray(value)
      ? _.map(value, cb)
      : _(value).omitBy(iteratee).mapValues(cb).value()
    : value;
}

function Cons(obj) { 
  _.extend(this, omitByRecursively(obj, (v, k) => k[0] === '_'));
}

var result = new Cons({
  key1 : 'value1', 
  key2 : {
    key21 : 'value21', 
    _key22: undefined
  }, 
  key3: undefined,
  _key4 : undefined,
  key5: [
    {
      _key: 'value xx',
      key7: 'value zz',
      _key8: 'value aa'
    }
  ]
});

console.log(result);

.as-console-wrapper{min-height:100%;top:0}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.12.0/lodash.js"></script>

---

Update

You can mutate the object itself by creating a function that recursively traverses the object with each() and settles the removal by unset().

function omitByRecursivelyInPlace(value, iteratee) {

  _.each(value, (v, k) => {

    if(iteratee(v, k)) {
      _.unset(value, k); 
    } else if(_.isObject(v)) {
      omitByRecursivelyInPlace(v, iteratee);  
    }

  });

  return value;

}

function Cons(obj){_.extend(this, obj)}

var result = omitByRecursivelyInPlace(instance, (v, k) => k[0] === '_');

function omitByRecursivelyInPlace(value, iteratee) {
  
  _.each(value, (v, k) => {
    
    if(iteratee(v, k)) {
      _.unset(value, k); 
    } else if(_.isObject(v)) {
      omitByRecursivelyInPlace(v, iteratee);  
    }
    
  });
  
  return value;
  
}

function Cons(obj){_.extend(this, obj)}

var instance = new Cons({
  key1 : 'value1', 
  key2 : {
    key21 : 'value21', 
    _key22: undefined
  }, 
  key3: undefined,
  _key4 : undefined,
  key5: [
    {
      _key: 'value xx',
      key7: 'value zz',
      _key8: 'value aa'
    }
  ]
});

var result = omitByRecursivelyInPlace(instance, (v, k) => k[0] === '_');

console.log(result instanceof Cons);
console.log(result);

.as-console-wrapper{min-height:100%;top:0}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.12.0/lodash.js"></script>

Answer 2

You can use the rundef package.

By default, it will replace all top-level properties with values set to undefined. However it supports the following options:

• mutate - set this to false to return the same object that you have provided; this will ensure the constructor is not changed
• recursive - set this to true to recursively process your object

Therefore, for your use case, you can run:

rundef(object, false, true)