Clone Object without reference javascript

javascript, object, oop

Solution

If you use an `=` statement to assign a value to a `var` with an object on the right side, javascript will not copy but reference the object.

Spoiler : using `JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj))` may work but is costly, and might throw a `TypeError` as in

const a = {};
const b = { a };
a.b = b;
const clone = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(a));
/* Throws
Uncaught TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON
    --> starting at object with constructor 'Object'
    |     property 'b' -> object with constructor 'Object'
    --- property 'a' closes the circle
    at JSON.stringify (<anonymous>)
    at <anonymous>:4:6
*/

As of es2015, if you want a shallow copy (clone the object, but keeping deep refences in the inner structure) you can use destructuring :

const obj = { foo: { bar: "baz" } };
const shallowClone = { ...obj };

`shallowClone` is a new object, but `shallowClone.foo` holds a reference to the same object as `obj.foo`.

You can use lodash's `clone` method, which does the same, if you don't have access to the spread operator.

var obj = {a: 25, b: 50, c: 75};
var A = _.clone(obj);

Or lodash's `cloneDeep` method if your object has multiple object levels

var obj = {a: 25, b: {a: 1, b: 2}, c: 75};
var A = _.cloneDeep(obj);

Or lodash's `merge` method if you mean to extend the source object

var obj = {a: 25, b: {a: 1, b: 2}, c: 75};
var A = _.merge({}, obj, {newkey: "newvalue"});

Or you can use jQuerys `extend` method:

var obj = {a: 25, b: 50, c: 75};
var A = $.extend(true,{},obj);

Here is jQuery 1.11 extend method's source code :

jQuery.extend = jQuery.fn.extend = function() {
    var src, copyIsArray, copy, name, options, clone,
        target = arguments[0] || {},
        i = 1,
        length = arguments.length,
        deep = false;

    // Handle a deep copy situation
    if ( typeof target === "boolean" ) {
        deep = target;

        // skip the boolean and the target
        target = arguments[ i ] || {};
        i++;
    }

    // Handle case when target is a string or something (possible in deep copy)
    if ( typeof target !== "object" && !jQuery.isFunction(target) ) {
        target = {};
    }

    // extend jQuery itself if only one argument is passed
    if ( i === length ) {
        target = this;
        i--;
    }

    for ( ; i < length; i++ ) {
        // Only deal with non-null/undefined values
        if ( (options = arguments[ i ]) != null ) {
            // Extend the base object
            for ( name in options ) {
                src = target[ name ];
                copy = options[ name ];

                // Prevent never-ending loop
                if ( target === copy ) {
                    continue;
                }

                // Recurse if we're merging plain objects or arrays
                if ( deep && copy && ( jQuery.isPlainObject(copy) || (copyIsArray = jQuery.isArray(copy)) ) ) {
                    if ( copyIsArray ) {
                        copyIsArray = false;
                        clone = src && jQuery.isArray(src) ? src : [];

                    } else {
                        clone = src && jQuery.isPlainObject(src) ? src : {};
                    }

                    // Never move original objects, clone them
                    target[ name ] = jQuery.extend( deep, clone, copy );

                // Don't bring in undefined values
                } else if ( copy !== undefined ) {
                    target[ name ] = copy;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // Return the modified object
    return target;
};

var item ={ 'a': 1, 'b': 2}
Object.assign({}, item);

UPDATE: 05/31/2023 a new global function was release that allows DEEP COPY called window.structuredClone()

Problem

Original source

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