I'm trying to flatten nested arrays while preserving the order, e.g. [[1, 2], 3, [4, [[5]]]]
should be converted to [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
.
I'm trying to use recursion in order to do so, but the code below does not work and I don't understand why. I know there are other methods to do it, but I'd like to know what's wrong with this.
function flatten (arr) {
var newArr = [];
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if (Array.isArray(arr[i])) {
flatten(arr);
} else {
newArr.push(arr[i]);
}
}
return newArr;
}
flatten([[1, 2], 3, [4, [[5]]]]);
Thanks
When calling flatten
recursively, you need to pass arr[i]
to it and then concat the result with newArr. So replace this line:
flatten(arr);
with:
newArr = newArr.concat(flatten(arr[i]));
Here's a common pattern that I regularly use for flattening nested arrays, and which I find a bit more clean due to its functional programming nature:
var flatten = (arrayOfArrays) =>
arrayOfArrays.reduce((flattened, item) =>
flattened.concat(Array.isArray(item) ? flatten(item) : [item]), []);
Or for those who like a shorter, less readable version for code golf or so:
var flatten=a=>a.reduce((f,i)=>f.concat(Array.isArray(i)?flatten(i):[i]),[]);
Here is some working code
function flatten (arr) {
var newArr = [];
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if (Array.isArray(arr[i])) {
var temp = flatten(arr[i]);
temp.forEach(function(value){ newArr.push(value); })
} else {
newArr.push(arr[i]);
}
}
return newArr;
}
Havent tested it, bit this part
if (Array.isArray(arr[i])) {
flatten(arr);
} else {
Seems to be intended as
if (Array.isArray(arr[i])) {
flatten(arr[i]);
} else {