pluck an object from an array

getNestedObject.js

/**
 * required by pluckObjectByKey can be handy if you're dealing with JavaScript written by Java devs
 * they like long.strings.with.dots.in.them.
 */
function getNestedObject (obj, path) {
    var nest, len;
    if (path) {
        nest = path.split('.').reverse();
        len = nest.length;
        while (len--) {
            if (obj[nest[len]])
                obj = obj[nest[len]];
            else
                return false
        }
        return obj
    }
    return false
}

pluckObjectByKey.js

/**
 * Recently found myself needing something like this several times
 * @author Noah Feldman
 */

function pluckObjectByKey (name, value, collection, filter) {
    var i = collection.length,
        firstDot = name.indexOf('.'),
        lastDot, nested, ret, path;

    if (firstDot > -1) {
        lastDot = name.lastIndexOf('.');

        if (firstDot != lastDot) {
            path = name.slice(0, lastDot);
            name = name.slice(++lastDot);
            nested = true;
        } else {
            name = name.split('.');
            path = name[0];
            name = name[1];
            nested = false;
        }
    } else {
        path = name;
        nested = false;
    }

    if (!filter)
        filter = function (x) { return x };

    while (i--) {
        obj = nested ? getNestedObject(collection[i], path) : collection[i][path];
        if (filter(obj[name]) === value)
            return { index: i, result: collection[i] };
    }
}