Check if an array contains any element of another

Question

I have a target array ["apple","banana","orange"], and I want to check if other arrays contain any one of the target array elements.

For example:

["apple","grape"] //returns true;

["apple","banana","pineapple"] //returns true;

["grape", "pineapple"] //returns false;

How can I do it in JavaScript?

Answer 1

What about using a combination of some/findIndex and indexOf?

So something like this:

var array1 = ["apple","banana","orange"];
var array2 = ["grape", "pineapple"];

var found = array1.some(function(v) { return array2.indexOf(v) != -1; });

To make it more readable you could add this functionality to the Array object itself.

Array.prototype.indexOfAny = function (array) {
    return this.findIndex(function(v) { return array.indexOf(v) != -1; });
}

Array.prototype.containsAny = function (array) {
    return this.indexOfAny(array) != -1;
}

Note: If you'd want to do something with a predicate you could replace the inner indexOf with another findIndex and a predicate

Answer 2

If you don't need type coercion (because of the use of indexOf), you could try something like the following:

var arr = [1, 2, 3];
var check = [3, 4];

var found = false;
for (var i = 0; i < check.length; i++) {
    if (arr.indexOf(check[i]) > -1) {
        found = true;
        break;
    }
}
console.log(found);

Where arr contains the target items. At the end, found will show if the second array had at least one match against the target.

Of course, you can swap out numbers for anything you want to use - strings are fine, like your example.

And in my specific example, the result should be true because the second array's 3 exists in the target.

---

UPDATE:

Here's how I'd organize it into a function (with some minor changes from before):

var anyMatchInArray = (function () {
    "use strict";

    var targetArray, func;

    targetArray = ["apple", "banana", "orange"];
    func = function (checkerArray) {
        var found = false;
        for (var i = 0, j = checkerArray.length; !found && i < j; i++) {
            if (targetArray.indexOf(checkerArray[i]) > -1) {
                found = true;
            }
        }
        return found;
    };

    return func;
}());

DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/u8Bzt/

In this case, the function could be modified to have targetArray be passed in as an argument instead of hardcoded in the closure.

---

UPDATE2:

While my solution above may work and be (hopefully more) readable, I believe the "better" way to handle the concept I described is to do something a little differently. The "problem" with the above solution is that the indexOf inside the loop causes the target array to be looped over completely for every item in the other array. This can easily be "fixed" by using a "lookup" (a map...a JavaScript object literal). This allows two simple loops, over each array. Here's an example:

var anyMatchInArray = function (target, toMatch) {
    "use strict";

    var found, targetMap, i, j, cur;

    found = false;
    targetMap = {};

    // Put all values in the `target` array into a map, where
    //  the keys are the values from the array
    for (i = 0, j = target.length; i < j; i++) {
        cur = target[i];
        targetMap[cur] = true;
    }

    // Loop over all items in the `toMatch` array and see if any of
    //  their values are in the map from before
    for (i = 0, j = toMatch.length; !found && (i < j); i++) {
        cur = toMatch[i];
        found = !!targetMap[cur];
        // If found, `targetMap[cur]` will return true, otherwise it
        //  will return `undefined`...that's what the `!!` is for
    }

    return found;
};

DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/5Lv9v/

The downside to this solution is that only numbers and strings (and booleans) can be used (correctly), because the values are (implicitly) converted to strings and set as the keys to the lookup map. This isn't exactly good/possible/easily done for non-literal values.

Answer 3

With underscorejs

var a1 = [1,2,3];
var a2 = [1,2];

_.every(a1, function(e){ return _.include(a2, e); } ); //=> false
_.every(a2, function(e){ return _.include(a1, e); } ); //=> true

Answer 4

Update @Paul Grimshaw answer, use includes insteed of indexOf for more readable

let found = arr1.some(r=> arr2.indexOf(r) >= 0)
let found = arr1.some(r=> arr2.includes(r))

Answer 5

Here is an interesting case I thought I should share.

Let's say that you have an array of objects and an array of selected filters.

let arr = [
  { id: 'x', tags: ['foo'] },
  { id: 'y', tags: ['foo', 'bar'] },
  { id: 'z', tags: ['baz'] }
];

const filters = ['foo'];

To apply the selected filters to this structure we can

if (filters.length > 0)
  arr = arr.filter(obj =>
    obj.tags.some(tag => filters.includes(tag))
  );

// [
//   { id: 'x', tags: ['foo'] },
//   { id: 'y', tags: ['foo', 'bar'] }
// ]

Answer 6

console.log("searching Array: "+finding_array);
console.log("searching in:"+reference_array);
var check_match_counter = 0;
for (var j = finding_array.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) 
{
    if(reference_array.indexOf(finding_array[j]) > 0)
    {
        check_match_counter = check_match_counter + 1;
    }
}
 var match = (check_match_counter > 0) ? true : false;
console.log("Final result:"+match);