I am trying to write a function to flatten an array. I have part of the function working and I need help in the other half.
flatten: function(anyArray, singleLevel) {
if (singleLevel == true) {
flatArray = Array.prototype.concat.apply([], anyArray);
return flatArray;
}
flatArray = Array.prototype.concat.apply([], anyArray);
if (flatArray.length != anyArray.length) {
flatArray = someObject.array.flatten(flatArray);
}
return flatArray;
}
if I type
.flatten([[[1],[1,2,3,[4,5],4],[2,3]]], true);
I want it to flatten only one level:
[[1],[1,2,3,[4,5],4],[2,3]]
Modern JavaScript allows us to handle this very easily using a variety of techniques
Using Array.prototype.flat
-
const arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
const flatArr =
arr.flat(1) // 1 is default depth
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
Using Array.prototype.flatMap
-
const arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
const flatArr =
arr.flatMap(x => x)
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
Using a spread argument to Array.prototype.concat
const arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
const flatArr =
[].concat(...arr)
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
Older version of JavaScript (ECMAScript 5 and below) can use techniques like Function.prototype.apply
-
var arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
var flatArr =
Array.prototype.concat.apply([], arr)
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
Using Array.prototype.reduce
-
var arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
var flatArr =
arr.reduce((r, a) => r.concat(a), [])
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
Using a primitive for
loop -
var arr =
[ [ 1 ], [ 2, 3, [ 4, 5, [ 6 ] ] ], [ 7, [ 8, 9 ] ] ]
var flatArr =
[]
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i = i + 1)
flatArr = flatArr.concat(arr[i])
console.log(JSON.stringify(arr))
console.log(JSON.stringify(flatArr))
// [[1],[2,3,[4,5,[6]]],[7,[8,9]]]
// [1,2,3,[4,5,[6]],7,[8,9]]
The concat
array method expects one or more arrays as arguments, whose elements will be appended:
[1].concat([2, 3], [4]) // [1, 2, 3, 4]
So if you are using apply
, that will flatten another level:
[].concat.apply([1], [[2], [3]]) // === [1].concat([2], [3])
So you can either use push
instead of concat
, or call
(or just direct invocation) instead of apply
to get only a single flattening level.
if you use ES6/ES2015 you can use spread operator. Something like this
console.log(...[[[1],[1,2,3,[4,5],4],[2,3]]])