How to get a key in a JavaScript object by its value?

As said, iteration is needed. For instance, in modern browser you could have:

var key = Object.keys(obj).filter(function(key) {return obj[key] === value})[0];

Where value contains the value you're looking for. Said that, I would probably use a loop.

Otherwise you could use a proper "hashmap" object - there are several implementation in JS around - or implement by your own.

UPDATE 2018

Six years passed, but I still get some vote here, so I feel like a more modern solution – for modern browser/environment – should be mentioned in the answer itself and not just in the comments:

const key = Object.keys(obj).find(key => obj[key] === value);

Of course it can be also a function:

const getKeyByValue = (obj, value) => 
        Object.keys(obj).find(key => obj[key] === value);

function getKeyByValue(object, value) {
  return Object.keys(object).find(key => object[key] === value);
}

ES6, no prototype mutations or external libraries.

Example,

function getKeyByValue(object, value) {
  return Object.keys(object).find(key => object[key] === value);
}


const map = {"first" : "1", "second" : "2"};
console.log(getKeyByValue(map,"2"));

No standard method available. You need to iterate and you can create a simple helper:

Object.prototype.getKeyByValue = function( value ) {
    for( var prop in this ) {
        if( this.hasOwnProperty( prop ) ) {
             if( this[ prop ] === value )
                 return prop;
        }
    }
}

var test = {
   key1: 42,
   key2: 'foo'
};

test.getKeyByValue( 42 );  // returns 'key1'

One word of caution: Even if the above works, its generally a bad idea to extend any host or native object's .prototype. I did it here because it fits the issue very well. Anyway, you should probably use this function outside the .prototype and pass the object into it instead.