Is there any possibility to have JSON.stringify preserve functions?

Question

Take this object:

x = {
 \"key1\": \"xxx\",
 \"key2\": function(){return this.key1}
}

If I do this:

y = JSON.parse( JSON.st         


        

Answer 1

I've had a similar requirement lately. To be clear, the output looks like JSON but in fact is just javascript.

JSON.stringify works well in most cases, but "fails" with functions.

I got it working with a few tricks:

1. make use of replacer (2nd parameter of JSON.stringify())
2. use func.toString() to get the JS code for a function
3. remember which functions have been stringified and replace them directly in the result

And here's how it looks like:

// our source data
const source = {
    "aaa": 123,
    "bbb": function (c) {
        // do something
        return c + 1;
    }
};

// keep a list of serialized functions
const functions = [];

// json replacer - returns a placeholder for functions
const jsonReplacer = function (key, val) {
    if (typeof val === 'function') {
  	    functions.push(val.toString());
        
        return "{func_" + (functions.length - 1) + "}";
    }
        
    return val;
};

// regex replacer - replaces placeholders with functions
const funcReplacer = function (match, id) {
   return functions[id];
};

const result = JSON
    .stringify(source, jsonReplacer)               // generate json with placeholders
    .replace(/"\{func_(\d+)\}"/g, funcReplacer);   // replace placeholders with functions

// show the result
document.body.innerText = result;

body { white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: monospace; }

Important: Be careful about the placeholder format - make sure it's not too generic. If you change it, also change the regex as applicable.