var data = {
"items": [{
"id": 1,
"category": "cat1"
}, {
"id": 2,
"category": "cat2"
}, {
"id": 3,
"category": "cat1"
}]
};
var returnedData = $.grep(data.items, function (element, index) {
return element.id == 1;
});
alert(returnedData[0].id + " " + returnedData[0].category);
The returnedData is returning an array of objects, so you can access it by array index.