# Flow context property

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471>\
**Category:** Feature Requests\
**Created:** [26 November 2019 17:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471 "2019-11-26T17:07:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dsl400](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dsl400/32/11876_2.png) [@dsl400](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dsl400)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2019 17:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/1 "2019-11-26T17:07:34Z")

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it wold be nice to access flow context variable properties directly

`var bar = flow.get("foo.bar");`  
or  
`var bar = flow.get("foo/bar");`

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**Author:** ![hotNipi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/hotnipi/32/383_2.png) [@hotNipi](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/hotNipi)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2019 17:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/2 "2019-11-26T17:18:37Z")

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Can you explain why doesn't `flow.get("foo").bar` work for you?

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**Author:** ![dsl400](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dsl400/32/11876_2.png) [@dsl400](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dsl400)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2019 18:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/3 "2019-11-26T18:13:27Z")

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because it creates another copy of the entire object and if it is a big object that could eat cpu time and ram

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2019 18:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/4 "2019-11-26T18:25:39Z")

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> [@dsl400](#):
>
> because it creates another copy of the entire objec

Which object? `flow.get()` does not clone the object it just returns a reference to it.

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2019 18:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/5 "2019-11-26T18:34:19Z")

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> [@dsl400](#):
>
> it wold be nice to access flow context variable properties directly
> 
> `var bar = flow.get("foo.bar");`

It would be nice. Have you tried it?

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**Author:** ![dsl400](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dsl400/32/11876_2.png) [@dsl400](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dsl400)\
**Post date:** [27 November 2019 08:57 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-context-property/18471/6 "2019-11-27T08:57:18Z")

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wow! it actually works!!  
I apologize almighty [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)  
somehow my first test failed