The `defaults` npm package is primarily used for merging a set of default properties with user-provided options. It is particularly useful in situations where you want to ensure that an object contains a certain set of properties with default values, even if some of those properties are not provided by the user. This can be very handy in configuration objects for libraries, APIs, or any other modular pieces of code that require a predictable structure of input options.
Merging default options with user options
This feature allows the merging of a user-provided options object with a default options object. If the user provides a value for a given property, that value is used; otherwise, the default value is applied. This is particularly useful for configuring applications or modules where certain parameters are optional but should have a defined default behavior.
{"const defaults = require('defaults');\nconst userOptions = { color: 'blue' };\nconst defaultOptions = { color: 'red', size: 'large' };\nconst options = defaults(userOptions, defaultOptions);\nconsole.log(options); // Output: { color: 'blue', size: 'large' }"}Lodash's `merge` function offers deep merging capabilities, which can be more comprehensive than the shallow merge provided by `defaults`. It allows for the merging of nested properties, which is useful when dealing with complex object structures. However, for simple use cases, `defaults` might be more straightforward and lightweight.
Similar to `lodash.merge`, `deep-extend` provides deep merging functionality. It is designed to recursively merge properties of objects, making it suitable for complex configurations. Compared to `defaults`, `deep-extend` offers a more robust solution for nested properties but might be overkill for simple scenarios.
Easily handle defaults for your options
npm install defaults
import defaults from 'defaults';
const calculate = options => {
options = defaults(options, {
timeout: {
before: 100,
after: 100
}
});
console.log(options);
//=> {timeout: {before: 200, after: 100}}
// …
}
// …
calculate({timeout: {before: 200}});
Deeply merges the given options with the specified defaults and returns a new object.
The given parameters are deep-cloned and never mutated.
Type: object
The user-provided options.
If the value is not a plain object, a new plain object will be used instead.
Type: object | undefined
The default options to use when a value is not provided in the options object.
options objectFAQs
Easily handle defaults for your options
We found that defaults demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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