fast-equals

Perform blazing fast equality comparisons (either deep or shallow) on two objects passed, while also maintaining a high degree of flexibility for various implementation use-cases. It has no dependencies, and is ~1.8kB when minified and gzipped.

The following types are handled out-of-the-box:

• Plain objects (including react elements and Arguments)
• Arrays
• Typed Arrays
• Date objects
• RegExp objects
• Map / Set iterables
• Promise objects
• Primitive wrappers (new Boolean() / new Number() / new String())
• Custom class instances, including subclasses of native classes

Methods are available for deep, shallow, or referential equality comparison. In addition, you can opt into support for circular objects, or performing a "strict" comparison with unconventional property definition, or both. You can also customize any specific type comparison based on your application's use-cases.

Table of contents

• fast-equals
  • Table of contents
  • Usage
    • Specific builds
  • Available methods
    • deepEqual
      • Comparing Maps
    • shallowEqual
    • sameValueZeroEqual
    • circularDeepEqual
    • circularShallowEqual
    • strictDeepEqual
    • strictShallowEqual
    • strictCircularDeepEqual
    • strictCircularShallowEqual
    • createCustomEqual
      • Recipes
  • Benchmarks
  • Development

Usage

1import { deepEqual } from 'fast-equals';
2
3console.log(deepEqual({ foo: 'bar' }, { foo: 'bar' })); // true

Specific builds

By default, npm should resolve the correct build of the package based on your consumption (ESM vs CommonJS). However, if you want to force use of a specific build, they can be located here:

• ESM => fast-equals/dist/esm/index.mjs
• CommonJS => fast-equals/dist/cjs/index.cjs
• UMD => fast-equals/dist/umd/index.js
• Minified UMD => fast-equals/dist/min/index.js

If you are having issues loading a specific build type, please file an issue.

Available methods

deepEqual

Performs a deep equality comparison on the two objects passed and returns a boolean representing the value equivalency of the objects.

1import { deepEqual } from 'fast-equals';
2
3const objectA = { foo: { bar: 'baz' } };
4const objectB = { foo: { bar: 'baz' } };
5
6console.log(objectA === objectB); // false
7console.log(deepEqual(objectA, objectB)); // true

Comparing Maps

Map objects support complex keys (objects, Arrays, etc.), however the spec for key lookups in Map are based on SameZeroValue. If the spec were followed for comparison, the following would always be false:

1const mapA = new Map([[{ foo: 'bar' }, { baz: 'quz' }]]);
2const mapB = new Map([[{ foo: 'bar' }, { baz: 'quz' }]]);
3
4deepEqual(mapA, mapB);

To support true deep equality of all contents, fast-equals will perform a deep equality comparison for key and value parirs. Therefore, the above would be true.

shallowEqual

Performs a shallow equality comparison on the two objects passed and returns a boolean representing the value equivalency of the objects.

1import { shallowEqual } from 'fast-equals';
2
3const nestedObject = { bar: 'baz' };
4
5const objectA = { foo: nestedObject };
6const objectB = { foo: nestedObject };
7const objectC = { foo: { bar: 'baz' } };
8
9console.log(objectA === objectB); // false
10console.log(shallowEqual(objectA, objectB)); // true
11console.log(shallowEqual(objectA, objectC)); // false

sameValueZeroEqual

Performs a SameValueZero comparison on the two objects passed and returns a boolean representing the value equivalency of the objects. In simple terms, this means either strictly equal or both NaN.

1import { sameValueZeroEqual } from 'fast-equals';
2
3const mainObject = { foo: NaN, bar: 'baz' };
4
5const objectA = 'baz';
6const objectB = NaN;
7const objectC = { foo: NaN, bar: 'baz' };
8
9console.log(sameValueZeroEqual(mainObject.bar, objectA)); // true
10console.log(sameValueZeroEqual(mainObject.foo, objectB)); // true
11console.log(sameValueZeroEqual(mainObject, objectC)); // false

circularDeepEqual

Performs the same comparison as deepEqual but supports circular objects. It is slower than deepEqual, so only use if you know circular objects are present.

1function Circular(value) {
2  this.me = {
3    deeply: {
4      nested: {
5        reference: this,
6      },
7    },
8    value,
9  };
10}
11
12console.log(circularDeepEqual(new Circular('foo'), new Circular('foo'))); // true
13console.log(circularDeepEqual(new Circular('foo'), new Circular('bar'))); // false

Just as with deepEqual, both keys and values are compared for deep equality.

circularShallowEqual

Performs the same comparison as shallowequal but supports circular objects. It is slower than shallowEqual, so only use if you know circular objects are present.

1const array = ['foo'];
2
3array.push(array);
4
5console.log(circularShallowEqual(array, ['foo', array])); // true
6console.log(circularShallowEqual(array, [array])); // false

strictDeepEqual

Performs the same comparison as deepEqual but performs a strict comparison of the objects. In this includes:

• Checking symbol properties
• Checking non-enumerable properties in object comparisons
• Checking full descriptor of properties on the object to match
• Checking non-index properties on arrays
• Checking non-key properties on Map / Set objects

1const array = [{ foo: 'bar' }];
2const otherArray = [{ foo: 'bar' }];
3
4array.bar = 'baz';
5otherArray.bar = 'baz';
6
7console.log(strictDeepEqual(array, otherArray)); // true;
8console.log(strictDeepEqual(array, [{ foo: 'bar' }])); // false;

strictShallowEqual

Performs the same comparison as shallowEqual but performs a strict comparison of the objects. In this includes:

• Checking non-enumerable properties in object comparisons
• Checking full descriptor of properties on the object to match
• Checking non-index properties on arrays
• Checking non-key properties on Map / Set objects

1const array = ['foo'];
2const otherArray = ['foo'];
3
4array.bar = 'baz';
5otherArray.bar = 'baz';
6
7console.log(strictDeepEqual(array, otherArray)); // true;
8console.log(strictDeepEqual(array, ['foo'])); // false;

strictCircularDeepEqual

Performs the same comparison as circularDeepEqual but performs a strict comparison of the objects. In this includes:

• Checking Symbol properties on the object
• Checking non-enumerable properties in object comparisons
• Checking full descriptor of properties on the object to match
• Checking non-index properties on arrays
• Checking non-key properties on Map / Set objects

1function Circular(value) {
2  this.me = {
3    deeply: {
4      nested: {
5        reference: this,
6      },
7    },
8    value,
9  };
10}
11
12const first = new Circular('foo');
13
14Object.defineProperty(first, 'bar', {
15  enumerable: false,
16  value: 'baz',
17});
18
19const second = new Circular('foo');
20
21Object.defineProperty(second, 'bar', {
22  enumerable: false,
23  value: 'baz',
24});
25
26console.log(circularDeepEqual(first, second)); // true
27console.log(circularDeepEqual(first, new Circular('foo'))); // false

strictCircularShallowEqual

Performs the same comparison as circularShallowEqual but performs a strict comparison of the objects. In this includes:

• Checking non-enumerable properties in object comparisons
• Checking full descriptor of properties on the object to match
• Checking non-index properties on arrays
• Checking non-key properties on Map / Set objects

1const array = ['foo'];
2const otherArray = ['foo'];
3
4array.push(array);
5otherArray.push(otherArray);
6
7array.bar = 'baz';
8otherArray.bar = 'baz';
9
10console.log(circularShallowEqual(array, otherArray)); // true
11console.log(circularShallowEqual(array, ['foo', array])); // false

createCustomEqual

Creates a custom equality comparator that will be used on nested values in the object. Unlike deepEqual and shallowEqual, this is a factory method that receives the default options used internally, and allows you to override the defaults as needed. This is generally for extreme edge-cases, or supporting legacy environments.

The signature is as follows:

1interface Cache<Key extends object, Value> {
2  delete(key: Key): boolean;
3  get(key: Key): Value | undefined;
4  set(key: Key, value: any): any;
5}
6
7interface ComparatorConfig<Meta> {
8  areArraysEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<any[], Meta>;
9  areDatesEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<Date, Meta>;
10  areErrorsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<Error, Meta>;
11  areFunctionsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<(...args: any[]) => any, Meta>;
12  areMapsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<Map<any, any>, Meta>;
13  areObjectsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<Record<string, any>, Meta>;
14  arePrimitiveWrappersEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<
15    boolean | string | number,
16    Meta
17  >;
18  areRegExpsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<RegExp, Meta>;
19  areSetsEqual: TypeEqualityComparator<Set<any>, Meta>;
20  areTypedArraysEqual: TypeEqualityComparatory<TypedArray, Meta>;
21  areUrlsEqual: TypeEqualityComparatory<URL, Meta>;
22}
23
24function createCustomEqual<Meta>(options: {
25  circular?: boolean;
26  createCustomConfig?: (
27    defaultConfig: ComparatorConfig<Meta>,
28  ) => Partial<ComparatorConfig<Meta>>;
29  createInternalComparator?: (
30    compare: <A, B>(a: A, b: B, state: State<Meta>) => boolean,
31  ) => (
32    a: any,
33    b: any,
34    indexOrKeyA: any,
35    indexOrKeyB: any,
36    parentA: any,
37    parentB: any,
38    state: State<Meta>,
39  ) => boolean;
40  createState?: () => { cache?: Cache; meta?: Meta };
41  strict?: boolean;
42}): <A, B>(a: A, b: B) => boolean;

Create a custom equality comparator. This allows complete control over building a bespoke equality method, in case your use-case requires a higher degree of performance, legacy environment support, or any other non-standard usage. The recipes provide examples of use in different use-cases, but if you have a specific goal in mind and would like assistance feel free to file an issue.

NOTE: Map implementations compare equality for both keys and value. When using a custom comparator and comparing equality of the keys, the iteration index is provided as both indexOrKeyA and indexOrKeyB to help use-cases where ordering of keys matters to equality.

Recipes

Some recipes have been created to provide examples of use-cases for createCustomEqual. Even if not directly applicable to the problem you are solving, they can offer guidance of how to structure your solution.

• Legacy environment support for RegExp comparators
• Explicit property check
• Using meta in comparison
• Comparing non-standard properties
• Strict property descriptor comparison
• Legacy environment support for circualr equal comparators

Benchmarks

All benchmarks were performed on an i9-11900H Ubuntu Linux 24.04 laptop with 64GB of memory using NodeJS version 20.17.0, and are based on averages of running comparisons based deep equality on the following object types:

• Primitives (String, Number, null, undefined)
• Function
• Object
• Array
• Date
• RegExp
• react elements
• A mixed object with a combination of all the above types

1Testing mixed objects equal...
2┌─────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────┐
3│ (index) │ Package                         │ Ops/sec        │
4├─────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
5│ 0       │ 'fast-equals'                   │ 1256867.529926 │
6│ 1       │ 'fast-deep-equal'               │ 1207041.997437 │
7│ 2       │ 'shallow-equal-fuzzy'           │ 1142536.391324 │
8│ 3       │ 'react-fast-compare'            │ 1140373.249605 │
9│ 4       │ 'dequal/lite'                   │ 708240.354044  │
10│ 5       │ 'dequal'                        │ 704655.931143  │
11│ 6       │ 'fast-equals (circular)'        │ 595853.718756  │
12│ 7       │ 'underscore.isEqual'            │ 433596.570863  │
13│ 8       │ 'assert.deepStrictEqual'        │ 310595.198662  │
14│ 9       │ 'lodash.isEqual'                │ 232192.454526  │
15│ 10      │ 'fast-equals (strict)'          │ 175941.250843  │
16│ 11      │ 'fast-equals (strict circular)' │ 154606.328398  │
17│ 12      │ 'deep-eql'                      │ 136052.484375  │
18│ 13      │ 'deep-equal'                    │ 854.061311     │
19└─────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────┘
20
21Testing mixed objects not equal...
22┌─────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────┐
23│ (index) │ Package                         │ Ops/sec        │
24├─────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
25│ 0       │ 'fast-equals'                   │ 3795307.779634 │
26│ 1       │ 'fast-deep-equal'               │ 2987150.35694  │
27│ 2       │ 'react-fast-compare'            │ 2733075.404272 │
28│ 3       │ 'fast-equals (circular)'        │ 2311547.685659 │
29│ 4       │ 'dequal/lite'                   │ 1156909.54415  │
30│ 5       │ 'dequal'                        │ 1151209.161878 │
31│ 6       │ 'fast-equals (strict)'          │ 1102248.247412 │
32│ 7       │ 'fast-equals (strict circular)' │ 1020639.089577 │
33│ 8       │ 'nano-equal'                    │ 1009557.685012 │
34│ 9       │ 'underscore.isEqual'            │ 770286.698227  │
35│ 10      │ 'lodash.isEqual'                │ 296338.570457  │
36│ 11      │ 'deep-eql'                      │ 152741.182224  │
37│ 12      │ 'assert.deepStrictEqual'        │ 20163.203513   │
38│ 13      │ 'deep-equal'                    │ 3519.448516    │
39└─────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────┘

Caveats that impact the benchmark (and accuracy of comparison):

• Maps, Promises, and Sets were excluded from the benchmark entirely because no library other than deep-eql fully supported their comparison
• fast-deep-equal, react-fast-compare and nano-equal throw on objects with null as prototype (Object.create(null))
• assert.deepStrictEqual does not support NaN or SameValueZero equality for dates
• deep-eql does not support SameValueZero equality for zero equality (positive and negative zero are not equal)
• deep-equal does not support NaN and does not strictly compare object type, or date / regexp values, nor uses SameValueZero equality for dates
• fast-deep-equal does not support NaN or SameValueZero equality for dates
• nano-equal does not strictly compare object property structure, array length, or object type, nor SameValueZero equality for dates
• react-fast-compare does not support NaN or SameValueZero equality for dates, and does not compare function equality
• shallow-equal-fuzzy does not strictly compare object type or regexp values, nor SameValueZero equality for dates
• underscore.isEqual does not support SameValueZero equality for primitives or dates

All of these have the potential of inflating the respective library's numbers in comparison to fast-equals, but it was the closest apples-to-apples comparison I could create of a reasonable sample size. It should be noted that react elements can be circular objects, however simple elements are not; I kept the react comparison very basic to allow it to be included.

Development

Standard practice, clone the repo and npm i to get the dependencies. The following npm scripts are available:

• benchmark => run benchmark tests against other equality libraries
• build => build main, module, and browser distributables with rollup
• clean => run rimraf on the dist folder
• dev => start webpack playground App
• dist => run build
• lint => run ESLint on all files in src folder (also runs on dev script)
• lint:fix => run lint script, but with auto-fixer
• prepublish:compile => run lint, test:coverage, transpile:lib, transpile:es, and dist scripts
• start => run dev
• test => run AVA with NODE_ENV=test on all files in test folder
• test:coverage => run same script as test with code coverage calculation via nyc
• test:watch => run same script as test but keep persistent watcher