Deep copy of objects in JavaScript

In JavaScript, it is common to copy objects. But a simple copy statement can only make a shallow copy of an object, that is, a reference is copied, not the object it refers to. More often, we want to make a deep copy of the object to prevent the original object from being unintentionally modified.

The difference between deep copy and shallow copy of an object is as follows:

• Shallow copy: only copies the reference of the object, not the object itself;

• Deep copy: Copy all objects referenced by the copied object.

1. Implementation of shallow copy

The implementation method of shallow copy is relatively simple, as long as a simple copy statement is used.

1.1 Method 1: Simple copy statement

/* ================ 浅拷贝 ================ */
function simpleClone(initalObj) {
    var obj = {};
    for ( var i in initalObj) {
        obj[i] = initalObj[i];
    }
    return obj;
}

/* ================ 客户端调用 ================ */
var obj = {
    a: "hello",
    b: {
        a: "world",
        b: 21
    },
    c: ["Bob", "Tom", "Jenny"],
    d: function() {
        alert("hello world");
    }
}
var cloneObj = simpleClone(obj); // 对象拷贝

console.log(cloneObj.b); // {a: "world", b: 21}
console.log(cloneObj.c); // ["Bob", "Tom", "Jenny"]
console.log(cloneObj.d); // function() { alert("hello world"); }

// 修改拷贝后的对象
cloneObj.b.a = "changed";
cloneObj.c = [1, 2, 3];
cloneObj.d = function() { alert("changed"); };

console.log(obj.b); // {a: "changed", b: 21} // // 原对象所引用的对象被修改了

console.log(obj.c); // ["Bob", "Tom", "Jenny"] // 原对象所引用的对象未被修改
console.log(obj.d); // function() { alert("hello world"); } // 原对象所引用的函数未被修改

1.2 Method 2: Object.assign()

Object.assign() method can assign any number of source objects Copies its own enumerable properties to the target object, and then returns the target object. However, Object.assign() performs a shallow copy, copying references to the properties of the object, not the object itself.

var obj = { a: {a: "hello", b: 21} };

var initalObj = Object.assign({}, obj);

initalObj.a.a = "changed";

console.log(obj.a.a); // "changed"

2. Implementation of deep copy

There are many ways to implement deep copy, including the simplest JSON.parse() method, the commonly used recursive copy method, and the Object in ES5 .create() method.

2.1 Method 1: Use JSON.parse() method

There are many ways to implement deep copy. For example, the simplest way is to use JSON.parse():

/* ================ 深拷贝 ================ */
function deepClone(initalObj) {
    var obj = {};
    try {
        obj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(initalObj));
    }
    return obj;
}

/* ================ 客户端调用 ================ */
var obj = {
    a: {
        a: "world",
        b: 21
    }
}
var cloneObj = deepClone(obj);
cloneObj.a.a = "changed";

console.log(obj.a.a); // "world"

This method is simple and easy to use.

But this method also has many disadvantages, for example, it will discard the object's constructor. That is to say, after deep copying, no matter what the original constructor of the object is, it will become Object after deep copying.

The only objects that this method can correctly handle are Number, String, Boolean, Array, and flat objects, that is, those data structures that can be directly represented by json. RegExp objects cannot be deep copied in this way.

2.2 Method 2: Recursive copy

The code is as follows:

/* ================ 深拷贝 ================ */
function deepClone(initalObj, finalObj) {
    var obj = finalObj || {};
    for (var i in initalObj) {
        if (typeof initalObj[i] === 'object') {
            obj[i] = (initalObj[i].constructor === Array) ? [] : {};
            arguments.callee(initalObj[i], obj[i]);
        } else {
            obj[i] = initalObj[i];
        }
    }
    return obj;
}

The above code can indeed achieve deep copy. But when encountering two objects that reference each other, an infinite loop will occur.

In order to avoid an infinite loop caused by objects referencing each other, you should determine whether objects refer to each other during traversal, and if so, exit the loop.

The improved version of the code is as follows:

/* ================ 深拷贝 ================ */
function deepClone(initalObj, finalObj) {
    var obj = finalObj || {};
    for (var i in initalObj) {
        var prop = initalObj[i];

        // 避免相互引用对象导致死循环，如initalObj.a = initalObj的情况
        if(prop === obj) {
            continue;
        }

        if (typeof prop === 'object') {
            obj[i] = (prop.constructor === Array) ? [] : {};
            arguments.callee(prop, obj[i]);
        } else {
            obj[i] = prop;
        }
    }
    return obj;
}

2.3 Method 3: Use the Object.create() method

Use var newObj = Object.create(oldObj) directly to achieve deep copy effect.

/* ================ 深拷贝 ================ */
function deepClone(initalObj, finalObj) {
    var obj = finalObj || {};
    for (var i in initalObj) {
        var prop = initalObj[i];

        // 避免相互引用对象导致死循环，如initalObj.a = initalObj的情况
        if(prop === obj) {
            continue;
        }

        if (typeof prop === 'object') {
            obj[i] = (prop.constructor === Array) ? [] : Object.create(prop);
        } else {
            obj[i] = prop;
        }
    }
    return obj;
}

3. Reference: Implementation of jQuery.extend() method

jQuery.extend() of jQuery.js also implements deep copy of the object. The official code is posted below for reference.

Official link address: http://www.php.cn/.

jQuery.extend = jQuery.fn.extend = function() {
    var options, name, src, copy, copyIsArray, 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&#39;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&#39;t bring in undefined values
                } else if ( copy !== undefined ) {
                    target[ name ] = copy;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // Return the modified object
    return target;
};

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