rgrep.js

// requires a little bit of extra work to make it pretty, but works
// allows to recursively search js objects or arrays for a property name
// useful when dealing with big js objects you're unfamiliar with

var visited = [];

function is_type (thing, type) {
    var to_string_type = '[object ' + type + ']';
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(thing) === to_string_type;
}

function rgrep (arr, key, path_to_match) {
    // console.log('call with ' + arr);
    var was_array = true;
    path_to_match = path_to_match || "";
    visited.push(arr);

    if (! is_type(arr, 'Array')) {
        was_array = false;
        arr = [arr];
    }

    arr.forEach(function (el, index) {
        for (var prop_name in el) {
            var prop_val = undefined;

            try {
                prop_val = el[prop_name];
            } catch (e) {}

            // substring match
            // if (prop_name.match(new RegExp(key, 'i'))) {
            if (prop_name === key) {
                if (was_array) {
                    console.log(path_to_match + "[" + index + "]");
                } else {
                    console.log(path_to_match);
                }

                console.log('FOUND MATCH ' + key);
            }
            // console.log(prop + ' ' + el[prop]);
            if ((is_type(prop_val, 'Array') || is_type(prop_val, 'Object')) && visited.indexOf(prop_val) === -1) {
                var new_path = "" + path_to_match;
                if (was_array) {
                    new_path += "[" + index + "]";
                }
                new_path += "." + prop_name;
                rgrep(prop_val, key, new_path);
            }
        }    
    });
}