How to find a object in a nested array using recursion in JS

We use object-scan for most of our data processing. It's awesome for all sorts of things, but does take a while to wrap your head around. This is how one could answer your question:

// const objectScan = require('object-scan');

const find = (data, id) => objectScan(['**(^children$).id'], {
  abort: true,
  rtn: 'parent',
  useArraySelector: false,
  filterFn: ({ value }) => value === id
})(data);

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];

console.log(find(array, 12));
// => { id: 12, name: 'bla', children: [ { id: 232, name: 'bla', children: [ { id: 848, name: 'bla' }, { id: 959, name: 'bla' } ] }, { id: 433, name: 'bla' }, { id: 445, name: 'bla', children: [ { id: 443, name: 'bla' }, { id: 456, name: 'bla', children: [ { id: 97, name: 'bla' }, { id: 56, name: 'bla' } ] } ] } ] }
console.log(find(array, 483));
// => { id: 483, name: 'bla' }
console.log(find(array, 959));
// => { id: 959, name: 'bla' }
console.log(find(array, 1200));
// => undefined
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Disclaimer: I'm the author of object-scan


You might also use recursion with Array.find like below

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];


function findById(arr, id, nestingKey) {
  
  // if empty array then return
  if(arr.length == 0) return
  
  // return element if found else collect all children(or other nestedKey) array and run this function
  return arr.find(d => d.id == id) 
      || findById(arr.flatMap(d => d[nestingKey] || []), id) 
      || 'Not found'
}

console.log(findById(array, 12, 'children'))

console.log(findById(array, 483, 'children'))

console.log(findById(array, 1200, 'children'))

This should work: 

function findByIdRecursive(array, id) {
  for (let index = 0; index < array.length; index++) {
    const element = array[index];
    if (element.id === id) {
      return element;
    } else {
      if (element.children) {
        const found = findByIdRecursive(element.children, id);

        if (found) {
          return found;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

You might use a recursive reduce:

const array=[{id:1,name:"bla",children:[{id:23,name:"bla",children:[{id:88,name:"bla"},{id:99,name:"bla"}]},{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:45,name:"bla",children:[{id:43,name:"bla"},{id:46,name:"bla"}]}]},{id:12,name:"bla",children:[{id:232,name:"bla",children:[{id:848,name:"bla"},{id:959,name:"bla"}]},{id:433,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:443,name:"bla"},{id:456,name:"bla",children:[{id:97,name:"bla"},{id:56,name:"bla"}]}]}]},{id:15,name:"bla",children:[{id:263,name:"bla",children:[{id:868,name:"bla"},{id:979,name:"bla"}]},{id:483,name:"bla"},{id:445,name:"bla",children:[{id:423,name:"bla"},{id:436,name:"bla"}]}]}];

const findItemNested = (arr, itemId, nestingKey) => (
  arr.reduce((a, item) => {
    if (a) return a;
    if (item.id === itemId) return item;
    if (item[nestingKey]) return findItemNested(item[nestingKey], itemId, nestingKey)
  }, null)
);
const res = findItemNested(array, 959, "children");
console.log(res);

Tags:

Javascript

Recursion

Nested

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