pathly.js

(function () {
    'use strict';

    function compress(a) {
        var n = [], i;
        for (i = 0; i <= a.length; i += 1) { if (a[i]) { n.push(a[i]); } }
        return n;
    }

    function merge(a, b) {
        if (a.substring) { return b; }
        var p;
        for (p in b) {
            if (b.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
                if (!a[p]) {
                    // Add if not found
                    a[p] = b[p];
                } else {
                    // If found, merge again
                    a[p] = merge(a[p], b[p]);
                }
            }
        }
        return a.join ? compress(a) : a;
    }

    function main(obj, path, value, opts) {
        var tempObj,
            key,
            delimiter = (opts && opts.delimiter) || '.',
            emptyKey  = (opts && opts.emptyKey) || 'undefined';

        path = path.replace(/\[(\d)\]/g, '.$1').split(delimiter);
        //replace empty keys with `emptyKey`
        path = path.map(function (item) { return item || emptyKey; });

        while (key = path.pop()) {
            tempObj = isNaN(key) ? {} : [];

            if ((opts || {}).toNative !== false) {
                if (!isNaN(value))      { value = parseFloat(value, 10); }
                if (value === 'true')   { value = true; }
                if (value === 'false')  { value = false; }
            }

            if (!value) { break; }

            tempObj[key] = value;
            value = tempObj;
            if (!path.length) { merge(obj, tempObj); }
        }
    }

    function init() {
        /*global define, module*/
        if (typeof define === 'function' && define.amd) {
            define(function () { return main; });
        } else if (typeof module === 'object' && module.exports) {
            module.exports = main;
        } else {
            this.pathly = main;
        }
    }

    init();
}());