How to unflatten a JavaScript object in a daisy-chain/dot notation into an object with nested objects and arrays?

Question

I want to unflatten an object like this...

var obj2 = {
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Green",
    "car.make": "Honda",
    "car.model": "Civic",
    "car.revisions.0.miles": 10150,
    "car.revisions.0.code": "REV01",
    "car.revisions.0.changes": "",
    "car.revisions.1.miles": 20021,
    "car.revisions.1.code": "REV02",
    "car.revisions.1.changes.0.type": "asthetic",
    "car.revisions.1.changes.0.desc": "Left tire cap",
    "car.revisions.1.changes.1.type": "mechanic",
    "car.revisions.1.changes.1.desc": "Engine pressure regulator",
    "visits.0.date": "2015-01-01",
    "visits.0.dealer": "DEAL-001",
    "visits.1.date": "2015-03-01",
    "visits.1.dealer": "DEAL-002"
};

... into an object with nested objects and arrays like the following:

{
  firstName: 'John',
  lastName: 'Green',
  car: {
    make: 'Honda',
    model: 'Civic',
    revisions: [
      { miles: 10150, code: 'REV01', changes: ''},
      { miles: 20021, code: 'REV02', changes: [
        { type: 'asthetic', desc: 'Left tire cap' },
        { type: 'mechanic', desc: 'Engine pressure regulator' }
      ] }
    ]
  },
  visits: [
    { date: '2015-01-01', dealer: 'DEAL-001' },
    { date: '2015-03-01', dealer: 'DEAL-002' }
  ]
}

Here's my (failed) attempt:

function unflatten(obj) {
    var result = {};

    for (var property in obj) {
        if (property.indexOf('.') > -1) {
            var substrings = property.split('.');

            console.log(substrings[0], substrings[1]);


        } else {
            result[property] = obj[property];
        }
    }

    return result;
};

I quickly started repeating code unnecessarily in order to do the nesting of objects and arrays. This is definitely something that needs recursion. Any ideas?

EDIT: I've also asked the opposite, flatten, in another question.

Answer 1

You can first use for...in loop to loop object properties, then split each key at . then use reduce to build nested properties.

var obj2 = {"firstName":"John","lastName":"Green","car.make":"Honda","car.model":"Civic","car.revisions.0.miles":10150,"car.revisions.0.code":"REV01","car.revisions.0.changes":"","car.revisions.1.miles":20021,"car.revisions.1.code":"REV02","car.revisions.1.changes.0.type":"asthetic","car.revisions.1.changes.0.desc":"Left tire cap","car.revisions.1.changes.1.type":"mechanic","car.revisions.1.changes.1.desc":"Engine pressure regulator","visits.0.date":"2015-01-01","visits.0.dealer":"DEAL-001","visits.1.date":"2015-03-01","visits.1.dealer":"DEAL-002"}

function unflatten(data) {
  var result = {}
  for (var i in data) {
    var keys = i.split('.')
    keys.reduce(function(r, e, j) {
      return r[e] || (r[e] = isNaN(Number(keys[j + 1])) ? (keys.length - 1 == j ? data[i] : {}) : [])
    }, result)
  }
  return result
}

console.log(unflatten(obj2))