Is it fine to use JSON.stringify for deep comparisons and cloning?

Question

After attempting several implementations for deep comparison and copying for JSON-serializable objects, I've noticed the fastest often are just:

function deep_clone(a){
   return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(a));
};
function is_equal(a,b){
    return JSON.stringify(a) === JSON.stringify(b);
};

I feel like this is cheating, though. Like I'll find some problem that will annoy me on future. Is it fine to use those?

Answer 1

JavaScript does not guarantee the order of keys.

If they are entered in the same order, this approach would work most of the time, but it would not be reliable.

Also, it would return false for objects that were deeply equal, but whose keys were entered in a different order:

JSON.stringify({ a: 1, b: 2}) === "{"a":1,"b":2}"

JSON.stringify({ b: 2, a: 1}) === "{"b":2,"a":1}"

Answer 2

I realize it's an old question, but I just wanted to add a bit more to the answers, since someone might otherwise walk away from this page mistakenly thinking that using JSON.stringify for comparisons/cloning will work without issue so long as it isn't used to compare/clone objects whose members are unordered. (To be fair to the accepted answer, they shouldn't walk away thinking that; it says, "If [the members] are entered in the same order, this approach would work most of the time.")

Code probably illustrates the potential hiccups best:

JSON.stringify(NaN) === JSON.stringify(null)
// => true

JSON.stringify(Infinity) === JSON.stringify(null)
// => true

// or, to put it all together:
JSON.stringify({ val1: (1 / 0), val2: parseInt("hi there"), val3: NaN }) === JSON.stringify({ val1: NaN, val2: null, val3: null })
// => true

// and here's the same example with "cloning" rather than comparison:
JSON.parse(JSON.stringify({ val1: (1 / 0), val2: parseInt("hi there"), val3: NaN }))
// => Object {val1: null, val2: null, val3: null}

These are quirks that can cause trouble even when ordering isn't an issue (which, as others have said, it can be). It's probably not likely in most cases that these quirks will rear their ugly heads, but it's good to be aware of them, since they could result in some really hard to find bugs.