Path should be an array

[qwelias]

Path arg should be an array, since prop name could contain .

[kevva]

Since using dot notation is the most popular way of describing objects, I'd rather return an escaped path like foo.foo\\.bar which corresponds to {foo: {'foo.bar': true}}.

[qwelias]

@kevva
Popular where?
If in mongodb? Yes, because they prohibit dot as a key.
If in lodash? They allow for array for compatibility with dot in props.

And if you return "escaped" dots, how should consumer process the string? Will you include a function for unescaping too?

[kevva]

Well, it's how you write it when accessing props on an object for example.

And if you return "escaped" dots, how should consumer process the string? Will you include a function for unescaping too?

You can access the property by using https://github.com/sindresorhus/dot-prop.

[qwelias]

@kevva so would I have to install that package too to use this one? This is ridiculous

[kevva]

No, it's just a suggestion. Using your proposed solution, you'd still have to convert the array to something before you could access the property of the object as well so I don't see what the tradeoff is here.

Also, the path is just a user friendly representation of the property that has changed. You don't have to install anything if you don't want to do anything with it, but it's not this modules purpose.

[qwelias]

@kevva
The tradeoff is that if given

{
  'a.b':1,
  'a': { 'b': 2 },
}

Changing 1 or 2 in case of array would produce determined path (['a', 'b'] or ['a.b'] repectively), while using string would produce 'a.b' in both cases. And if you escape '.' with anything you'd have to split the string into valid array of props before unescaping where it was escaped as you suggested.

Also, considering, that implementation relies on dotted path in walkPath funciton there could be related bugs if props have dots in their names.

The point is, you cannot use dot as an object-tree path separator since it's a valid character for property names.

That's the reason popular utility libs use primarily array as object-tree path, string only as a convenience option. Look at lodash or ramda.

[kevva]

I'm not saying that I disregard your solution, I just prefer the escaped one. It's non-breaking (most likely) and is directly compatible with dot-prop.

Also, considering, that implementation relies on dotted path in walkPath funciton there could be related bugs if props have dots in their names.

This is a non-issue IMO. It's easy to check for in code providing that the path is escaped. But yeah, I'm not opposed to returning path as an array either. Ultimately it's up to @sindresorhus to decide.

[qwelias]

I think I'll start working on PR in spare time