To modify deeply nested objects/variables in React's state, typically three methods are used: vanilla JavaScript's Object.assign, immutability-helper and cloneDeep from Lodash.
There are also plenty of other less popular third-party libs to achieve this, but in this answer, I'll cover just these three options. Also, some additional vanilla JavaScript methods exist, like array spreading, (see @mpen's answer for example), but they are not very intuitive, easy to use and capable to handle all state manipulation situations.
As was pointed innumerable times in top voted comments to the answers, whose authors propose a direct mutation of state: just don't do that. This is a ubiquitous React anti-pattern, which will inevitably lead to unwanted consequences. Learn the right way.
Let's compare three widely used methods.
Given this state object structure:
state = {
outer: {
inner: 'initial value'
}
}
You can use the following methods to update the inner-most inner field's value without affecting the rest of the state.
1. Vanilla JavaScript's Object.assign
const App = () => {
const [outer, setOuter] = React.useState({ inner: 'initial value' })
React.useEffect(() => {
console.log('Before the shallow copying:', outer.inner) // initial value
const newOuter = Object.assign({}, outer, { inner: 'updated value' })
console.log('After the shallow copy is taken, the value in the state is still:', outer.inner) // initial value
setOuter(newOuter)
}, [])
console.log('In render:', outer.inner)
return (
<section>Inner property: <i>{outer.inner}</i></section>
)
}
ReactDOM.render(
<App />,
document.getElementById('react')
)
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<main id="react"></main>
Keep in mind, that Object.assign will not perform a deep cloning, since it only copies property values, and that's why what it does is called a shallow copying (see comments).
For this to work, we should only manipulate the properties of primitive types (outer.inner), that is strings, numbers, booleans.
In this example, we're creating a new constant (const newOuter...), using Object.assign, which creates an empty object ({}), copies outer object ({ inner: 'initial value' }) into it and then copies a different object { inner: 'updated value' } over it.
This way, in the end the newly created newOuter constant will hold a value of { inner: 'updated value' } since the inner property got overridden. This newOuter is a brand new object, which is not linked to the object in state, so it can be mutated as needed and the state will stay the same and not changed until the command to update it is ran.
The last part is to use setOuter() setter to replace the original outer in the state with a newly created newOuter object (only the value will change, the property name outer will not).
Now imagine we have a more deep state like state = { outer: { inner: { innerMost: 'initial value' } } }. We could try to create the newOuter object and populate it with the outer contents from the state, but Object.assign will not be able to copy innerMost's value to this newly created newOuter object since innerMost is nested too deeply.
You could still copy inner, like in the example above, but since it's now an object and not a primitive, the reference from newOuter.inner will be copied to the outer.inner instead, which means that we will end up with local newOuter object directly tied to the object in the state.
That means that in this case mutations of the locally created newOuter.inner will directly affect the outer.inner object (in state), since they are in fact became the same thing (in computer's memory).
Object.assign therefore will only work if you have a relatively simple one level deep state structure with innermost members holding values of the primitive type.
If you have deeper objects (2nd level or more), which you should update, don't use Object.assign. You risk mutating state directly.
2. Lodash's cloneDeep
const App = () => {
const [outer, setOuter] = React.useState({ inner: 'initial value' })
React.useEffect(() => {
console.log('Before the deep cloning:', outer.inner) // initial value
const newOuter = _.cloneDeep(outer) // cloneDeep() is coming from the Lodash lib
newOuter.inner = 'updated value'
console.log('After the deeply cloned object is modified, the value in the state is still:', outer.inner) // initial value
setOuter(newOuter)
}, [])
console.log('In render:', outer.inner)
return (
<section>Inner property: <i>{outer.inner}</i></section>
)
}
ReactDOM.render(
<App />,
document.getElementById('react')
)
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.15/lodash.min.js"></script>
<main id="react"></main>
Lodash's cloneDeep is way more simple to use. It performs a deep cloning, so it is a robust option, if you have a fairly complex state with multi-level objects or arrays inside. Just cloneDeep() the top-level state property, mutate the cloned part in whatever way you please, and setOuter() it back to the state.
3. immutability-helper
const App = () => {
const [outer, setOuter] = React.useState({ inner: 'initial value' })
React.useEffect(() => {
const update = immutabilityHelper
console.log('Before the deep cloning and updating:', outer.inner) // initial value
const newOuter = update(outer, { inner: { $set: 'updated value' } })
console.log('After the cloning and updating, the value in the state is still:', outer.inner) // initial value
setOuter(newOuter)
}, [])
console.log('In render:', outer.inner)
return (
<section>Inner property: <i>{outer.inner}</i></section>
)
}
ReactDOM.render(
<App />,
document.getElementById('react')
)
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://wzrd.in/standalone/[email protected]"></script>
<main id="react"></main>
immutability-helper takes it to a whole new level, and the cool thing about it is that it can not only $set values to state items, but also $push, $splice, $merge (etc.) them. Here is a list of commands available.
Side notes
Again, keep in mind, that setOuter only modifies the first-level properties of the state object (outer in these examples), not the deeply nested (outer.inner). If it behaved in a different way, this question wouldn't exist.
Which one is right for your project?
If you don't want or can't use external dependencies, and have a simple state structure, stick to Object.assign.
If you manipulate a huge and/or complex state, Lodash's cloneDeep is a wise choice.
If you need advanced capabilities, i.e. if your state structure is complex and you need to perform all kinds of operations on it, try immutability-helper, it's a very advanced tool which can be used for state manipulation.
...or, do you really need to do this at all?
If you hold a complex data in React's state, maybe this is a good time to think about other ways of handling it. Setting a complex state objects right in React components is not a straightforward operation, and I strongly suggest to think about different approaches.
Most likely you better be off keeping your complex data in a Redux store, setting it there using reducers and/or sagas and access it using selectors.
