Convert dot-notated string or path of object into an object using recursion. This is similar to Lodash's _.zipObject but it doesn't set any values.

createNestedObject.js

/**
 * Convert an array into an object where each object gets nested like this:

   ['string1', 'string2', 'string3']

   becomes

   {
     string1: {
       string2: {
         string3: {}
       }
     }
   }

 * @param {array} array
 * @param {object} [object] Will be merged with the new nested objects. Overlapping/existing properties will be overridden.
 *
 * @returns {object}
 */
const arrayToNestedObject = function arrayToNestedObjectR(array, object) {
  object = object || {};

  if (array.length > 0) {
    const firstInArray = array[0];
    array.shift();

    object[firstInArray] = {};
    if (array.length > 0) {
      object[firstInArray] = arrayToNestedObjectR(array, object[firstInArray]);
    }
  }

  return object;
};

/**
 * Convert a dot-notated string such as 'string1.string2.string3' into an object.
 * See "arrayToNestedObject".
 *
 * @param {array} string Expects a bunch of strings separated by ".".
 * @param {object} [object] Will be merged with the new nested objects. Overlapping/existing properties will be overridden.
 *
 * @returns {object}
 */
export function dotNotationToNestedObject(string, object) {
  if (string.indexOf('.') > -1) {
    return arrayToNestedObject(string.split('.'), object);
  } else {
    let justOneLevel = {};
    justOneLevel[string] = {};
    return justOneLevel;
  }
}