tcompare

What is tcompare?

The tcompare npm package is a tool for deep comparison of JavaScript objects. It is useful for testing and validation purposes, allowing developers to compare complex data structures and identify differences.

What are tcompare's main functionalities?

Deep Comparison

This feature allows for deep comparison of two objects. The code sample compares two nested objects and logs the differences.

const tcompare = require('tcompare');
const obj1 = { a: 1, b: { c: 2 } };
const obj2 = { a: 1, b: { c: 3 } };
const result = tcompare.compare(obj1, obj2);
console.log(result);

Custom Comparison

This feature allows for custom comparison logic. The code sample demonstrates how to use a custom comparison function to compare two objects.

const tcompare = require('tcompare');
const obj1 = { a: 1, b: 2 };
const obj2 = { a: 1, b: 3 };
const customCompare = (a, b) => a === b;
const result = tcompare.compare(obj1, obj2, { customCompare });
console.log(result);

Detailed Difference Reporting

This feature provides detailed reporting of differences between objects. The code sample shows how to access and log the differences between two objects.

const tcompare = require('tcompare');
const obj1 = { a: 1, b: { c: 2 } };
const obj2 = { a: 1, b: { c: 3 } };
const result = tcompare.compare(obj1, obj2);
console.log(result.diff);

Other packages similar to tcompare

deep-equal

The deep-equal package provides deep comparison of objects and arrays. It is similar to tcompare in that it allows for deep comparison, but it does not offer as detailed difference reporting as tcompare.

lodash.isequal

The lodash.isequal package is a part of the Lodash library that provides deep comparison of objects. It is similar to tcompare in functionality but is part of a larger utility library, making it more versatile for various use cases.

fast-deep-equal

The fast-deep-equal package is a highly optimized deep comparison library. It is similar to tcompare in that it provides deep comparison, but it is focused on performance and may not offer as detailed difference reporting.

README

tcompare

A comprehensive comparison library, for use in test frameworks. Walks an object once, generating both a simple true/false result, as well as a nicely formatted human-readable diff string.

USAGE

const { match, same, strict, has, hasStrict, format } = require('tcompare')

// Result is an object with { Boolean match, String diff }
const result = match(object, pattern)
if (!result.match) {
  console.log(`item did not match pattern`)
  console.log(result.diff)
} else {
  console.log(`it's a match!`)
}

METHODS

• format(object, [options]) - No comparisons performed. Just print out the object. Returns just the string format.
• same(object, pattern, [options]) - Ensure that all items in the pattern are found in the object, and vice versa, matching loosely (so, for example 1 will match with '1').
• strict(object, pattern, [options]) - Ensure that all items in the pattern are found in the object, and vice versa, matching strictly (so, for example 1 will not match with '1').
• has(object, pattern, [options]) - Ensure that all items in the pattern are found in the object, but ignore additional items found in the object, matching loosely.
• hasStrict(object, pattern, [options]) - Ensure that all items in the pattern are found in the object, but ignore additional items found in the object, matching strictly.
• match(object, pattern, [options]) - Verify that all items in pattern are found in object, and that they match. This is the loosest possible algorithm, allowing cases where we just want to verify that an object contains a few important properties. The algorithm is the same as the one used by tmatch. In a nutshell:
  • If the object and pattern are loosely equal, then pass
  • If the object and the pattern are both Regular Expressions, Date objects or Buffers, then pass if they're "equivalent".
  • If the pattern is a RegExp, cast object to a string, and test against the RegExp.
  • If both are Strings, pass if pattern appears in object.
  • If pattern is a function, and object is an instance of that function, then pass. (This also applies to Symbol, Number, String, etc.)
  • If pattern and object are collections (object, map, set, array or iterable), then compare their contents. Each type of collection can only match its same type, with the exception of non-Set iterables (including arguments objects), which are cast to Arrays.

There are classes exported to correspond to each of these. All of these are instantiated like new Format(object, options). An expect option is required for all classes except Format. Call obj.print() on the resulting object to generate a diff. Once the diff (or format) is generated, it'll have a match boolean member.

OPTIONS

Each method can take the following options.

• sort - Set to true to sort object keys. This is important when serializing in a deterministic way.

• style - Set to pretty for a very human-readable style of object printing. Set to js for a copy-and-paste friendly valid JavaScript output. Set to tight for a minimal white-space js format. Default is pretty. Example:

  // pretty style
  Object {
    "myMap": Map {
      Object {
        "a": 1,
      } => Object {
        "b": 2,
      }
    }
  }
  
  // js style
  {
    "myMap": new Map([
      [{
        "a": 1,
      }, {
        "b": 2,
      }]
    ])
  }
  
  // tight style
  {"myMap":new Map([[{"a":1,},{"b":2,}],]),}
  

  Note that tight is not suitable for comparisons, only formatting.

Circular References

Circular references are displayed using YAML-like references, so it's easy to determine which item is circularly referenced.

When doing comparisons, a pattern and object will be considered matching if they contain the same circularity. So, for example, if a pattern refers to itself, then an object should refer to itself as well.

const a = {list: [], b: {}}
a.list.push(a)
a.list.push(a.b)
a.b.a = a
console.log(format(a))

/*
&ref_1 Object {
  "list": Array [
    <*ref_1>,
    Object {
      "a": <*ref_1>,
    },
  ],
  "b": Object {
    "a": <*ref_1>,
  },
}
*/

Note that circular references are never going to be valid JavaScript, even when using the js style.