Search an array for matching attribute

Question

I have an array, I need to return a restaurant\'s name, but I only know the value of its \"food\" attribute (not it\'s index number).

For example, how could I return

Answer 1

@Chap - you can use this javascript lib, DefiantJS (http://defiantjs.com), with which you can filter matches using XPath on JSON structures. To put it in JS code:

var data = [
   { "restaurant": { "name": "McDonald's", "food": "burger" } },
   { "restaurant": { "name": "KFC",        "food": "chicken" } },
   { "restaurant": { "name": "Pizza Hut",  "food": "pizza" } }
].
res = JSON.search( data, '//*[food="pizza"]' );

console.log( res[0].name );
// Pizza Hut

DefiantJS extends the global object with the method "search" and returns an array with matches (empty array if no matches were found). You can try out the lib and XPath queries using the XPath Evaluator here:

http://www.defiantjs.com/#xpath_evaluator