javascript - Get object property name as a string

Question

Is it possible to get the object property name as a string

person = {};
person.first_name = 'Jack';
person.last_name = 'Trades';
person.address = {};
person.address.street = 'Factory 1';
person.address.country = 'USA';

I'd like to use it like this:

var pn = propName( person.address.country ); // should return 'country' or 'person.address.country'
var pn = propName( person.first_name );      // should return 'first_name' or 'person.first_name'

NOTE: this code is exactly what I'm looking for. I understand it sounds even stupid, but it's not.

This is what I want to do with it.

HTML

person = {};
person.id_first_name = 'Jack';
person.id_last_name = 'Trades';
person.address = {};
person.address.id_address = 'Factory 1';
person.address.id_country = 'USA';


extPort.postMessage
(
  {
    message : MSG_ACTION,
    propName( person.first_name ): person.first_name
  }
};

----------------------ANSWER-----------------------

Got it thanks to ibu. He pointed the right way and I used a recursive function

var res = '';

function propName(prop, value) {
    for (var i in prop) {
        if (typeof prop[i] == 'object') {
            if (propName(prop[i], value)) {
                return res;
            }
        } else {
            if (prop[i] == value) {
                res = i;
                return res;
            }
        }
    }
    return undefined;
}

var pn = propName(person, person.first_name); // returns 'first_name'
var pn = propName(person, person.address.country); // returns 'country'

DEMO: http://jsbin.com/iyabal/1/edit

Answer 1

I know a best practice that using Object.keys(your_object). It will parse to array property name for you. Example:

var person = { firstName: 'John', lastName: 'Cena', age: '30' };
var listPropertyNames = Object.keys(person); //["firstName", "lastName", "age"]

I hope this example is useful for you.