704
votes

When returning an object from an arrow function, it seems that it is necessary to use an extra set of {} and a return keyword because of an ambiguity in the grammar.

That means I can’t write p => {foo: "bar"}, but have to write p => { return {foo: "bar"}; }.

If the arrow function returns anything other than an object, the {} and return are unnecessary, e.g.: p => "foo".

p => {foo: "bar"} returns undefined.

A modified p => {"foo": "bar"} throws SyntaxError: unexpected token: ':'”.

Is there something obvious I am missing?

6
I'm not clear when to use return keyword and when not to use it, JS being very very flexible creates loads of bugs for new users of this language. I wish it was as strict like "Java" language - vikramvi

6 Answers

1205
votes

You must wrap the returning object literal into parentheses. Otherwise curly braces will be considered to denote the function’s body. The following works:

p => ({ foo: 'bar' });

You don't need to wrap any other expression into parentheses:

p => 10;
p => 'foo';
p => true;
p => [1,2,3];
p => null;
p => /^foo$/;

and so on.

Reference: MDN - Returning object literals

69
votes

You may wonder, why the syntax is valid (but not working as expected):

var func = p => { foo: "bar" }

It's because of JavaScript's label syntax:

So if you transpile the above code to ES5, it should look like:

var func = function (p) {
  foo:
  "bar"; //obviously no return here!
}
20
votes

If the body of the arrow function is wrapped in curly braces, it is not implicitly returned. Wrap the object in parentheses. It would look something like this.

p => ({ foo: 'bar' })

By wrapping the body in parens, the function will return { foo: 'bar }.

Hopefully, that solves your problem. If not, I recently wrote an article about Arrow functions which covers it in more detail. I hope you find it useful. Javascript Arrow Functions

5
votes

Issue:

When you do are doing:

p => {foo: "bar"}

JavaScript interpreter thinks you are opening a multi-statement code block, and in that block, you have to explicitly mention a return statement.

Solution:

If your arrow function expression has a single statement, then you can use the following syntax:

p => ({foo: "bar", attr2: "some value", "attr3": "syntax choices"})

But if you want to have multiple statements then you can use the following syntax:

p => {return {foo: "bar", attr2: "some value", "attr3": "syntax choices"}}

In above example, first set of curly braces opens a multi-statement code block, and the second set of curly braces is for dynamic objects. In multi-statement code block of arrow function, you have to explicitly use return statements

For more details, check Mozilla Docs for JS Arrow Function Expressions

4
votes

ES6 Arrow Function returns an Object

the right ways

  1. normal function return an object

const getUser = user => {return { name: user.name, age: user.age };};

const user = { name: "xgqfrms", age: 21 };

console.log(getUser(user));
//  {name: "xgqfrms", age: 21}

  1. (js expressions )

const getUser = user => ({ name: user.name, age: user.age });

const user = { name: "xgqfrms", age: 21 };

console.log(getUser(user));
//  {name: "xgqfrms", age: 21}

explain

image

refs

https://github.com/lydiahallie/javascript-questions/issues/220

https://mariusschulz.com/blog/returning-object-literals-from-arrow-functions-in-javascript

-6
votes

You can always check this out for more custom solutions:

x => ({}[x.name] = x);