Group.getByName searches the Group for the first instance of a child with the name property matching the given argument. Should more than one child have the same name only the first instance is returned.

Author: photonstorm

README.md

@@ -325,6 +325,7 @@ You can read all about the philosophy behind Lazer [here](http://phaser.io/news/
 * Polygon now takes an array of arrays as a new type when constructing it: `[[x1, y1], [x2, y2]]` (thanks @ShimShamSam #2360)
 * Text has a new property `maxLines` which is the maximum number of lines to be shown for wrapped text. If set to 0 (the default) there is limit. This prevents wrapped text from overflowing on a fixed layout (thanks @slashman #2410)
 * `outOfCameraBoundsKill` is a new boolean property that all Game Objects with the `InWorld` component has. If `autoCull` and this property are both `true` then the Object will be automatically killed if it leaves the camera bounds (thanks @jakewilson #2402)
+* Group.getByName searches the Group for the first instance of a child with the `name` property matching the given argument. Should more than one child have the same name only the first instance is returned.
 
 ### Updates
 

src/core/Group.js

@@ -799,6 +799,29 @@ Phaser.Group.prototype.getIndex = function (child) {
 
 };
 
+/**
+* Searches the Group for the first instance of a child with the `name`
+* property matching the given argument. Should more than one child have
+* the same name only the first instance is returned.
+*
+* @method Phaser.Group#getByName
+* @param {string} name - The name to search for.
+* @return {any} The first child with a matching name, or null if none were found.
+*/
+Phaser.Group.prototype.getByName = function (name) {
+
+    for (var i = 0; i < this.children.length; i++)
+    {
+        if (this.children[i].name === name)
+        {
+            return this.children[i];
+        }
+    }
+
+    return null;
+
+};
+
 /**
 * Replaces a child of this group with the given newChild. The newChild cannot be a member of this group.
 *