Removing elements with Array.map in JavaScript

Question

I would like to filter an array of items by using the map() function. Here is a code snippet:

var filteredItems = items.map(function(item)
{
    if( ...some condition... )
    {
        return item;
    }
});

The problem is that filtered out items still uses space in the array and I would like to completely wipe them out.

Any idea?

EDIT: Thanks, I forgot about filter(), what I wanted is actually a filter() then a map().

EDIT2: Thanks for pointing that map() and filter() are not implemented in all browsers, although my specific code was not intended to run in a browser.

Answer 1

You should use the filter method rather than map unless you want to mutate the items in the array, in addition to filtering.

eg.

var filteredItems = items.filter(function(item)
{
    return ...some condition...;
});

[Edit: Of course you could always do sourceArray.filter(...).map(...) to both filter and mutate]

Answer 2

I wrote an answer a while back now, and my opinions changed. I recommend checking out my blog post which expands this topic and explains it much better. It also gives a JSperf comparison at the end of the alternatives.

The tl;dr is this: To accomplish what you're asking for (filtering and mapping within one function call), you should use Array.reduce(). However, the more readable and usually faster² approach is to just use filter and map chained together:

[1,2,3].filter(num => num > 2).map(num => num * 2)

What follows is a description of how Array.reduce() works, and how it can be used to accomplish filter and map in one iteration. If this is too condensed, I highly recommend seeing the blog post linked above, which is a much more friendly intro with clear examples and progression.

You give reduce an argument that is a (usually anonymous) function.

That anonymous function takes two parameters--one (like the anonymous functions passed in to map/filter/forEach) is the iteratee to be operated on. There is another argument for the anonymous function passed to reduce, however, that those functions do not accept, and that is the value that will be passed along between function calls, often referred to as the memo.

Note that while Array.filter() takes only one argument (a function), Array.reduce() also takes an important (though optional) second argument: an initial value for 'memo' that will be passed into that anonymous function as its first argument, and subsequently can be mutated and passed along between function calls. (If it is not supplied, then 'memo' in the first anonymous function call will by default be the first iteratee, and the 'iteratee' argument will actually be the second value in the array)

In our case, we'll pass in an empty array to start, and then choose whether to inject our iteratee into our array or not based on our function--this is the filtering process.

Finally, we'll return our 'array in progress' on each anonymous function call, and reduce will take that return value and pass it as an argument (called memo) to its next function call.

This allows filter and map to happen in one iteration, cutting down our number of required iterations in half. :)

For a more complete explanation, refer to MDN or the link above. :)

Basic example of a Reduce call:

let array = [1,2,3];
const initialMemo = [];

array = array.reduce((memo, iteratee) => {
    // if condition is our filter
    if (iteratee > 1) {
        // what happens inside the filter is the map
        memo.push(iteratee * 2); 
    }

    // this return value will be passed in as the 'memo' argument
    // to the next call of this function, and this function will have
    // every element passed into it at some point.
    return memo; 
}, initialMemo)

console.log(array) // [4,6], equivalent to [(2 * 2), (3 * 2)]

more succinct version:

[1,2,3].reduce((memo, value) => value > 1 ? memo.concat(value * 2) : memo, [])

Notice that the first iteratee was not greater than one, and so was filtered. Also note the initialMemo, named just to make its existence clear and draw attention to it. Once again, it is passed in as 'memo' to the first anonymous function call, and then the returned value of the anonymous function is passed in as the 'memo' argument to the next function.

Another example of the classic use case for memo would be returning the smallest or largest number in an array. Example:

[7,4,1,99,57,2,1,100].reduce((memo, val) => memo > val ? memo : val)
// ^this would return the largest number in the list.

An example of how to write your own reduce function (this often helps understanding functions like these, I find):

test_arr = [];

// we accept an anonymous function, and an optional 'initial memo' value.
test_arr.my_reducer = function(reduceFunc, initialMemo) {
    // if we did not pass in a second argument, then our first memo value 
    // will be whatever is in index zero. (Otherwise, it will 
    // be that second argument.)
    const initialMemoIsIndexZero = arguments.length < 2;

    // here we use that logic to set the memo value accordingly.
    let memo = initialMemoIsIndexZero ? this[0] : initialMemo;

    // here we use that same boolean to decide whether the first
    // value we pass in as iteratee is either the first or second
    // element
    const initialIteratee = initialMemoIsIndexZero ? 1 : 0;

    for (var i = initialIteratee; i < this.length; i++) {
        // memo is either the argument passed in above, or the 
        // first item in the list. initialIteratee is either the
        // first item in the list, or the second item in the list.
        memo = reduceFunc(memo, this[i]);
    }

    // after we've compressed the array into a single value,
    // we return it.
    return memo;
}

The real implementation allows access to things like the index, for example, but I hope this helps you get an uncomplicated feel for the gist of it.

Answer 3

That's not what map does. You really want Array.filter. Or if you really want to remove the elements from the original list, you're going to need to do it imperatively with a for loop.

Answer 4

You must note however that the Array.filter is not supported in all browser so, you must to prototyped:

//This prototype is provided by the Mozilla foundation and
//is distributed under the MIT license.
//http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/LICENSES/mit.license

if (!Array.prototype.filter)
{
    Array.prototype.filter = function(fun /*, thisp*/)
    {
        var len = this.length;

        if (typeof fun != "function")
            throw new TypeError();

        var res = new Array();
        var thisp = arguments[1];

        for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
        {
            if (i in this)
            {
                var val = this[i]; // in case fun mutates this

                if (fun.call(thisp, val, i, this))
                   res.push(val);
            }
        }

        return res;
    };
}

And doing so, you can prototype any method you may need.

Answer 5

I'm placing this answer here because the polyfills shared on this page are abysmal

function reduce(f, y, xs, context) {
  var acc = y;
  for (var i = 0, len = xs.length; i < len; i++)
    acc = f.call(context, acc, xs[i], i, xs);
  return acc;
}

function reduce1(f, xs, context) {
  if (xs.length === 0)
    throw Error('cannot reduce empty array without initial value');
  else
    return reduce(f, xs[0], xs.slice(1), context);
}

function map(f, xs, context) {
  return reduce(function(acc, x, i) {
    return acc.concat([
      f.call(context, x, i, xs)
    ]);
  }, [], xs);
}

function filter(f, xs, context) {
  return reduce(function(acc, x, i) {
    if (f.call(context, x, i, xs))
      return acc.concat([x]);
    else
      return acc;
  }, [], xs);
}

extend prototypes

if (Array.prototype.reduce === undefined) {
  Array.prototype.reduce = function(f, initialValue, context) {
    if (initialValue === undefined)
      return reduce1(f, this, context);
    else
      return reduce(f, initialValue, this, context);
  };
}

if (Array.prototype.map === undefined) {
  Array.prototype.map = function(f, context) {
    return map(f, this, context);
  };
}

if (Array.prototype.filter === undefined) {
  Array.prototype.filter = function(f, context) {
    return filter(f, this, context);
  };
}

Answer 6

var arr = [1,2,'xxx','yyy']

arr = arr.filter(function(e){ return e != 'xxx' });

arr  // [1, 2, "yyy"]