expand-value

Get deeply nested values from an object, like dot-prop and get-value, but with support for advanced features like bracket-notation and more.

Please consider following this project's author, Jon Schlinkert, and consider starring the project to show your ❤️ and support.

Install

Install with npm:

$ npm install --save expand-value

Usage

Similar to get-value and dot-prop (and passes all of the get-value unit tests), but supports more complex expressions for accessing deeply nested properties. For example, this library is used by Dry for resolving values in expressions in user-defined templates.

expand

Examples for using the main export (the expand function).

Basic Property Access

Access nested properties using dot notation.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { name: 'Brian', username: 'doowb' }, key: 'username' };

console.log(expand(data, 'user.name')); //=> 'Brian'
console.log(expand(data, 'user.username')); //=> 'doowb'

Bracket Notation

Access properties using bracket notation with string keys.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { name: 'Brian', username: 'doowb' }, key: 'username' };

console.log(expand(data, 'user["name"]')); //=> 'Brian'
console.log(expand(data, 'user["username"]')); //=> 'doowb'

Dynamic Property Access

Use bracket notation with variables to access properties dynamically.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { name: 'Brian', username: 'doowb' }, key: 'username' };

console.log(expand(data, 'user[key]')); //=> 'doowb'

Mixed Notation

Combine dot notation and bracket notation in the same path.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { foo: { bar: { baz: 'correct' } } };

console.log(expand(data, 'foo["bar"].baz')); //=> 'correct'

Array Index Access

Access array elements using numeric indices.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { items: ['first', 'second', 'third'] };

console.log(expand(data, 'items[0]')); //=> 'first'
console.log(expand(data, 'items[1]')); //=> 'second'
console.log(expand(data, 'items.2')); //=> 'third'

Negative Array Indices

Access array elements from the end using negative indices.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { items: ['first', 'second', 'third'] };

console.log(expand(data, 'items[-1]')); //=> 'third'
console.log(expand(data, 'items[-2]')); //=> 'second'

Special Number Values

Handle special JavaScript number values like NaN and Infinity.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = {
  'NaN': 'not a number',
  'Infinity': 'infinite',
  '-Infinity': 'negative infinite',
  '-0': 'negative zero'
};

console.log(expand(data, 'NaN')); //=> 'not a number'
console.log(expand(data, 'Infinity')); //=> 'infinite'
console.log(expand(data, '-Infinity')); //=> 'negative infinite'
console.log(expand(data, '-0')); //=> 'negative zero'

Symbol Properties

Access properties defined with Symbol keys.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const symbolKey = Symbol('mySymbol');
const data = { [symbolKey]: 'symbol value' };

console.log(expand(data, 'Symbol(mySymbol)')); //=> 'symbol value'

Escaped Characters

Handle escaped characters in property names.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { 'prop.with.dots': 'escaped value' };

console.log(expand(data, 'prop\\.with\\.dots')); //=> 'escaped value'

Function Properties

Execute functions found in the property path.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = {
  user: {
    getName: function () {
      return 'Brian';
    },
    context: 'user object'
  }
};

console.log(expand(data, 'user.getName')); //=> 'Brian'

Helper Functions

Use custom helper functions to process values.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { items: ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'] };
const options = {
  helpers: {
    first: arr => (Array.isArray(arr) ? arr[0] : arr),
    last: arr => (Array.isArray(arr) ? arr[arr.length - 1] : arr)
  }
};

console.log(expand(data, 'items.first', options)); //=> 'apple'
console.log(expand(data, 'items.last', options)); //=> 'cherry'

Fallback Values

Provide fallback values when properties don't exist.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { name: 'Brian' } };

console.log(expand(data, 'user.missing', 'default value')); //=> 'default value'
console.log(expand(data, 'user.missing', { default: 'fallback' })); //=> 'fallback'

Strict Mode

Enable strict mode to throw errors for undefined variables.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { name: 'Brian' } };

try {
  expand(data, 'user.missing', { strict: true });
} catch (error) {
  console.log(error.message); //=> 'Variable is undefined: "missing"'
}

Custom Separators

Use custom separators instead of dots for property access.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { user: { profile: { email: 'brian@example.com' } } };

console.log(expand(data, 'user->profile->email', { separator: '->' })); //=> 'brian@example.com'

Property Validation

Use custom validation to control which properties can be accessed.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = {
  public: { info: 'accessible' },
  private: { secret: 'hidden' }
};

const options = {
  isValid: (key, obj) => !key.startsWith('private')
};

console.log(expand(data, 'public.info', options)); //=> 'accessible'
console.log(expand(data, 'private.secret', options)); //=> undefined

Range Expressions

Use parentheses with range expressions for complex operations.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { items: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] };

console.log(expand(data, 'items[1..3]')); //=> ['b', 'c', 'd']

Quoted Property Names

Access properties with spaces or special characters using quoted strings.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = { 'property with spaces': 'value', 'special-chars!': 'works' };

console.log(expand(data, '"property with spaces"')); //=> 'value'
console.log(expand(data, "'special-chars!'")); //=> 'works'

Chained Property Resolution

Resolve complex property chains with multiple levels of indirection.

import expand from 'expand-value';

const data = {
  config: { theme: 'dark' },
  themes: {
    dark: { background: 'black', text: 'white' },
    light: { background: 'white', text: 'black' }
  },
  setting: 'theme'
};

console.log(expand(data, 'themes[config[setting]].background')); //=> 'black'

.parse

import { parse } from 'expand-value';

const { ast } = parse('a.b.c');
console.log(ast);

// results in
{
  type: 'root',
  nodes: [
    { type: 'ident', value: 'a' },
    { type: 'separator', value: '.' },
    { type: 'ident', value: 'b' },
    { type: 'separator', value: '.' },
    { type: 'ident', value: 'c' }
  ]
}

About

Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.

Please read the contributing guide for advice on opening issues, pull requests, and coding standards.

Running Tests

Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:

$ npm install && npm test

Building docs

(This project's readme.md is generated by verb, please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the .verb.md readme template.)

To generate the readme, run the following command:

$ npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb

Related projects

You might also be interested in these projects:

• dry: Dry is superset of the Liquid templating language, with first-class support for advanced inheritance features… more | homepage
• get-value: Use property paths like 'a.b.c' to get a nested value from an object. Even works… more | homepage

Contributors

Commits	Contributor
14	jonschlinkert
1	aykutkardas

Author

Jon Schlinkert

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• LinkedIn Profile

License

Copyright © 2025, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.

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This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.8.0, on August 05, 2025.