Compare JavaScript Array of Objects to Get Min / M

Question

I have an array of objects and I want to compare those objects on a specific object property. Here's my array:

var myArray = [
    {"ID": 1, "Cost": 200},
    {"ID": 2, "Cost": 1000},
    {"ID": 3, "Cost": 50},
    {"ID": 4, "Cost": 500}
]

I'd like to zero in on the "cost" specifically and a get a min and maximum value. I realize I can just grab the cost values and push them off into a javascript array and then run the Fast JavaScript Max/Min.

However is there an easier way to do this by bypassing the array step in the middle and going off the objects properties (in this case "Cost") directly?

Answer 1

The fastest way, in this case, is looping through all elements, and compare it to the highest/lowest value, so far.

(Creating an array, invoking array methods is overkill for this simple operation).

 // There's no real number bigger than plus Infinity
var lowest = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
var highest = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
var tmp;
for (var i=myArray.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
    tmp = myArray[i].Cost;
    if (tmp < lowest) lowest = tmp;
    if (tmp > highest) highest = tmp;
}
console.log(highest, lowest);

Answer 2

I think Rob W's answer is really the right one (+1), but just for fun: if you wanted to be "clever", you could do something like this:

var myArray = 
[
    {"ID": 1, "Cost": 200},
    {"ID": 2, "Cost": 1000},
    {"ID": 3, "Cost": 50},
    {"ID": 4, "Cost": 500}
]

function finder(cmp, arr, attr) {
    var val = arr[0][attr];
    for(var i=1;i<arr.length;i++) {
        val = cmp(val, arr[i][attr])
    }
    return val;
}

alert(finder(Math.max, myArray, "Cost"));
alert(finder(Math.min, myArray, "Cost"));

or if you had a deeply nested structure, you could get a little more functional and do the following:

var myArray = 
[
    {"ID": 1, "Cost": { "Wholesale":200, Retail: 250 }},
    {"ID": 2, "Cost": { "Wholesale":1000, Retail: 1010 }},
    {"ID": 3, "Cost": { "Wholesale":50, Retail: 300 }},
    {"ID": 4, "Cost": { "Wholesale":500, Retail: 1050 }}
]

function finder(cmp, arr, getter) {
    var val = getter(arr[0]);
    for(var i=1;i<arr.length;i++) {
        val = cmp(val, getter(arr[i]))
    }
    return val;
}

alert(finder(Math.max, myArray, function(x) { return x.Cost.Wholesale; }));
alert(finder(Math.min, myArray, function(x) { return x.Cost.Retail; }));

These could easily be curried into more useful/specific forms.

Answer 3

Use Math functions and pluck out the values you want with map.

Here is the jsbin:

https://jsbin.com/necosu/1/edit?js,console

var myArray = [{
    "ID": 1,
    "Cost": 200
  }, {
    "ID": 2,
    "Cost": 1000
  }, {
    "ID": 3,
    "Cost": 50
  }, {
    "ID": 4,
    "Cost": 500
  }],

  min = Math.min.apply(null, myArray.map(function(item) {
    return item.Cost;
  })),
  max = Math.max.apply(null, myArray.map(function(item) {
    return item.Cost;
  }));

console.log('min', min);//50
console.log('max', max);//1000

UPDATE:

If you want to use ES6:

var min = Math.min.apply(null, myArray.map(item => item.Cost)),
    max = Math.max.apply(null, myArray.map(item => item.Cost));

Answer 4

Using Array.prototype.reduce(), you can plug in comparator functions to determine the min, max, etc. item in an array.

var items = [
  { name : 'Apple',  count : 3  },
  { name : 'Banana', count : 10 },
  { name : 'Orange', count : 2  },
  { name : 'Mango',  count : 8  }
];

function findBy(arr, key, comparatorFn) {
  return arr.reduce(function(prev, curr, index, arr) { 
    return comparatorFn.call(arr, prev[key], curr[key]) ? prev : curr; 
  });
}

function minComp(prev, curr) {
  return prev < curr;
}

function maxComp(prev, curr) {
  return prev > curr;
}

document.body.innerHTML  = 'Min: ' + findBy(items, 'count', minComp).name + '<br />';
document.body.innerHTML += 'Max: ' + findBy(items, 'count', maxComp).name;

Answer 5

This can be achieved with lodash's minBy and maxBy functions.

Lodash's minBy and maxBy documentation

_.minBy(array, [iteratee=_.identity])

_.maxBy(array, [iteratee=_.identity])

These methods accept an iteratee which is invoked for each element in array to generate the criterion by which the value is ranked. The iteratee is invoked with one argument: (value).

Solution

var myArray = [
    {"ID": 1, "Cost": 200},
    {"ID": 2, "Cost": 1000},
    {"ID": 3, "Cost": 50},
    {"ID": 4, "Cost": 500}
]

const minimumCostItem = _.minBy(myArray, "Cost");

console.log("Minimum cost item: ", minimumCostItem);

// Getting the maximum using a functional iteratee
const maximumCostItem = _.maxBy(myArray, function(entry) {
  return entry["Cost"];
});

console.log("Maximum cost item: ", maximumCostItem);

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.15/lodash.js"></script>

Answer 6

Use sort, if you don't care about the array being modified.

myArray.sort(function (a, b) {
    return a.Cost - b.Cost
})

var min = myArray[0],
    max = myArray[myArray.length - 1]