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deep-diff is a javascript/node.js module providing utility functions for determining the structural differences between objects and includes some utilities for applying differences across objects.

npm install deep-diff

Possible v1.0.0 incompatabilities:

• elements in arrays are now processed in reverse order, which fixes a few nagging bugs but may break some users
  • If your code relied on the order in which the differences were reported then your code will break. If you consider an object graph to be a big tree, thendeep-diff does apre-order traversal of the object graph, however, when it encounters an array, the array is processed from the end towards the front, with each element recursively processed in-order during further descent.

• Get the structural differences between two objects.
• Observe the structural differences between two objects.
• When structural differences represent change, apply change from one object to another.
• When structural differences represent change, selectively apply change from one object to another.

npm install deep-diff

vardiff=require('deep-diff')// or:// const diff = require('deep-diff');// const { diff } = require('deep-diff');// or:// const DeepDiff = require('deep-diff');// const { DeepDiff } = require('deep-diff');// es6+:// import diff from 'deep-diff';// import { diff } from 'deep-diff';// es6+:// import DeepDiff from 'deep-diff';// import { DeepDiff } from 'deep-diff';

<scriptsrc="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/deep-diff@1/dist/deep-diff.min.js"></script>

In a browser,deep-diff defines a global variableDeepDiff. If there is a conflict in the global namespace you can restore the conflicting definition and assigndeep-diff to another variable like this:var deep = DeepDiff.noConflict();.

In order to describe differences, change revolves around anorigin object. For consistency, theorigin object is always the operand on theleft-hand-side of operations. Thecomparand, which may contain changes, is always on theright-hand-side of operations.

vardiff=require('deep-diff').diff;varlhs={name:'my object',description:'it\'s an object!',details:{it:'has',an:'array',with:['a','few','elements']}};varrhs={name:'updated object',description:'it\'s an object!',details:{it:'has',an:'array',with:['a','few','more','elements',{than:'before'}]}};vardifferences=diff(lhs,rhs);

v 0.2.0 and above The code snippet above would result in the following structure describing the differences:

[{kind:'E',path:['name'],lhs:'my object',rhs:'updated object'},{kind:'E',path:['details','with',2],lhs:'elements',rhs:'more'},{kind:'A',path:['details','with'],index:3,item:{kind:'N',rhs:'elements'}},{kind:'A',path:['details','with'],index:4,item:{kind:'N',rhs:{than:'before'}}}]

Differences are reported as one or more change records. Change records have the following structure:

• kind - indicates the kind of change; will be one of the following:
  • N - indicates a newly added property/element
  • D - indicates a property/element was deleted
  • E - indicates a property/element was edited
  • A - indicates a change occurred within an array
• path - the property path (from the left-hand-side root)
• lhs - the value on the left-hand-side of the comparison (undefined if kind === 'N')
• rhs - the value on the right-hand-side of the comparison (undefined if kind === 'D')
• index - when kind === 'A', indicates the array index where the change occurred
• item - when kind === 'A', contains a nested change record indicating the change that occurred at the array index

Change records are generated for all structural differences betweenorigin andcomparand. The methods only consider an object's own properties and array elements; those inherited from an object's prototype chain are not considered.

Changes to arrays are recorded simplistically. We care most about the shape of the structure; therefore we don't take the time to determine if an object moved from one slot in the array to another. Instead, we only record the structuraldifferences. If the structural differences are applied from thecomparand to theorigin then the two objects will compare as "deep equal" using mostisEqual implementations such as found inlodash orunderscore.

When two objects differ, you can observe the differences as they are calculated and selectively apply those changes to the origin object (left-hand-side).

varobservableDiff=require('deep-diff').observableDiff;varapplyChange=require('deep-diff').applyChange;varlhs={name:'my object',description:'it\'s an object!',details:{it:'has',an:'array',with:['a','few','elements']}};varrhs={name:'updated object',description:'it\'s an object!',details:{it:'has',an:'array',with:['a','few','more','elements',{than:'before'}]}};observableDiff(lhs,rhs,function(d){// Apply all changes except to the name property...if(d.path[d.path.length-1]!=='name'){applyChange(lhs,rhs,d);}});

A standard import ofvar diff = require('deep-diff') is assumed in all of the code examples. The import results in an object having the following public properties:

• diff(lhs, rhs[, options, acc]) — calculates the differences between two objects, optionally using the specified accumulator.
• observableDiff(lhs, rhs, observer[, options]) — calculates the differences between two objects and reports each to an observer function.
• applyDiff(target, source, filter) — applies any structural differences from a source object to a target object, optionally filtering each difference.
• applyChange(target, source, change) — applies a single change record to a target object. NOTE:source is unused and may be removed.
• revertChange(target, source, change) reverts a single change record to a target object. NOTE:source is unused and may be removed.

Thediff function calculates the difference between two objects.

• lhs - the left-hand operand; the origin object.
• rhs - the right-hand operand; the object being compared structurally with the origin object.
• options - A configuration object that can have the following properties:
  • prefilter: function that determines whether difference analysis should continue down the object graph. This function can also replace theoptions object in the parameters for backward compatibility.
  • normalize: function that pre-processes everyleaf of the tree.
• acc - an optional accumulator/array (requirement is that it have apush function). Each difference is pushed to the specified accumulator.

Returns either an array of changes or, if there are no changes,undefined. This was originally chosen so the result would be pass a truthy test:

varchanges=diff(obja,objb);if(changes){// do something with the changes.}

Theprefilter's signature should befunction(path, key) and it should return a truthy value for anypath-key combination that should be filtered. If filtered, the difference analysis does no further analysis of on the identified object-property path.

constdiff=require('deep-diff');constassert=require('assert');constdata={issue:126,submittedBy:'abuzarhamza',title:'readme.md need some additional example prefilter',posts:[{date:'2018-04-16',text:`additional example for prefilter for deep-diff would be great.      https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38364639/pre-filter-condition-deep-diff-node-js`}]};constclone=JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(data));clone.title='README.MD needs additional example illustrating how to prefilter';clone.disposition='completed';consttwo=diff(data,clone);constnone=diff(data,clone,(path,key)=>path.length===0&&~['title','disposition'].indexOf(key));assert.equal(two.length,2,'should reflect two differences');assert.ok(typeofnone==='undefined','should reflect no differences');

Thenormalize's signature should befunction(path, key, lhs, rhs) and it should return either a falsy value if no normalization has occured, or a[lhs, rhs] array to replace the original values. This step doesn't occur if the path was filtered out in theprefilter phase.

constdiff=require('deep-diff');constassert=require('assert');constdata={pull:149,submittedBy:'saveman71',};constclone=JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(data));clone.issue=42;consttwo=diff(data,clone);constnone=diff(data,clone,{normalize:(path,key,lhs,rhs)=>{if(lhs===149){lhs=42;}if(rhs===149){rhs=42;}return[lsh,rhs];}});assert.equal(two.length,1,'should reflect one difference');assert.ok(typeofnone==='undefined','should reflect no difference');

TheobservableDiff function calculates the difference between two objects and reports each to an observer function.

• lhs - the left-hand operand; the origin object.
• rhs - the right-hand operand; the object being compared structurally with the origin object.
• observer - The observer to report to.
• options - A configuration object that can have the following properties:
  • prefilter: function that determines whether difference analysis should continue down the object graph. This function can also replace theoptions object in the parameters for backward compatibility.
  • normalize: function that pre-processes everyleaf of the tree.

When contributing, keep in mind that it is an objective ofdeep-diff to have no package dependencies. This may change in the future, but for now, no-dependencies.

Please run the unit tests before submitting your PR:npm test. Hopefully your PR includes additional unit tests to illustrate your change/modification!

When you runnpm test, linting will be performed and any linting errors will fail the tests... this includes code formatting.

Thanks to all those who have contributed so far!