Object.keys, Values, Entries

In this chapter, we are going to cover Object. keys, values, and entries. We have already spoken about methods such as map.keys(), map.values(), map.entries().

These methods are universal and are used for data structures. Every time after creating a data structure, they should also be implemented. They are mainly used for Map, Set, and Array.

Similar methods are supported by plain objects, as well. Only the syntax differs a little.

Defining Object.keys, values, and entries¶

As a rule, for plain objects, you can use the methods below:

• For returning an array of key, the Object.keys(obj) method is used.
• For returning an array of values, the Object.values(obj) method is used.
• For returning an array of [key, value] pair, the Object.entries(obj) method is used.

There are significant differences compared to Map. Here we will cover them, as well.

The first distinction is that here we need to call Object.keys(obj) but not obj.keys().

The primary reason is versatility. Objects are considered the root of all JavaScript complex structures.

So, having an object such as data, which can perform its own data.values() method. However, you may call Object.values(data) on that object, as well. Another essential difference is that Object.* methods may return real arrays, not iterabales.

Let’s consider the following example:

let user = {

  name: "Jane",

  age: 41

};

console.log(user.name); // Jane

console.log(user.age); // 41

So, in the example above, we have the following:

• Object.keys(user) = ["name", "age"]
• Object.values(user) = ["Jack", 35]
• Object.entries(user) = [ ["name","Jack"], ["age",35] ]

For looping over property values, you can use Object.values like this:

let user = {

  name: "Jane",

  age: 41

};

for (let value of Object.values(user)) {

  console.log(value); // Jane, then 41

}

Object.keys/values/entries methods have a similarity with for..in loop: both of them ignore properties that apply Symbol(...) as a key.

In circumstances when you need symbols, you can use a separate method Object.getOwnPropertySymbols, returning an array that consists of only symbolic keys.

Transformation of Objects¶

Usually, objects don’t obtain the methods that arrays have (for instance, filter, map, and so on).

If you wish to use them, you can apply the Object.entries method, followed by Object.fromEntries.

Here is the sequence of actions:

1. Apply Object.entries(obj) for getting an array of value/key pairs from obj.
2. Apply array methods on the array.
3. Apply Object.fromEntries(array) on the resulting array for turning it back to an object.

Here is an example:

let points = {

  john: 22,

  ann: 20,

  jack: 14,

};

let doublePoints = Object.fromEntries(

  // convert to array, map, and then fromEntries returns an object

  Object.entries(points).map(([key, value]) => [key, value * 2])

);

console.log(doublePoints.john); // 44

This means allows making robust transformations.