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In Javascript, am trying to randomly substitute half (in this case, 3 out of 6) of the items from an array with different ones (all of the same type), and I need the original items' position to be kept. So for instance, if I have:
var my_array = [a, b, c, d, e, f]
I would want to select three random ones to be substituted with a 0, while the others to keep their initial position. So let's say a, c, and d are the ones the random selector will make go away on one instance, then my array would become:
my_array = [0, b, 0, 0, e, f]
On a different run, the random selector would perhaps pick b, c, and f and so I'd have:
my_array = [a, 0, 0, d, e, 0]
And so on.
Thank you so much for your help!
You could take a closure over the array and wanted zero counts and return a function which generates random integer and map the array with zeros or values.
function getRandom(array, count) {
return function () {
const indices = new Set();
do {
indices.add(Math.floor(Math.random() * array.length));
} while (indices.size < count)
return array.map((v, i) => indices.has(i) ? 0 : v);
};
}
var myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'],
getArrayWithZeros = getRandom(myArray, 3);
console.log(...getArrayWithZeros());
console.log(...getArrayWithZeros());
console.log(...getArrayWithZeros());
console.log(...getArrayWithZeros());
console.log(...getArrayWithZeros());
Another option
const myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'];
// Randomizer function
const rand = ([...arr], len, rep) => {
let ins = {};
while(Object.keys(ins).length < len) {
let r = ~~(Math.random() * arr.length);
if(!ins[r]) ins[r] = true;
}
for(let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) if(ins[i]) arr[i] = rep;
return arr;
}
// Array, number of elements to replace, replace with
// Here we transform toString for better readability
console.log(rand(myArray, 3, 0).toString());
console.log(rand(myArray, 3, 0).toString());
console.log(rand(myArray, 3, 0).toString());
console.log(rand(myArray, 3, 0).toString());
console.log(rand(myArray, 3, 0).toString());
You need to calculate half of the length of the array, generate random indexes of this amount, and then change them:
var my_array = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'];
function alterHalfWithZero(arr){
let my_array = [...arr];
let indexList = {};
let len = Math.floor(my_array.length / 2)
while(Object.values(indexList).length != len){
let random_index = Math.floor(Math.random() * my_array.length);
indexList[random_index] = random_index;
}
indexList = Object.values(indexList);
for(let i = 0; i < indexList.length; i++)
my_array[indexList[i]] = 0;
return my_array;
}
console.log(...alterHalfWithZero(my_array));
console.log(...alterHalfWithZero(my_array));
console.log(...alterHalfWithZero(my_array));
First get unique random indexes.
Loop over the indexes and make them 0.
var my_array = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"];
// Get unique random indexes
const random = (num, count) => {
const set = new Set();
while (set.size < count) {
set.add(Math.floor(Math.random() * num));
}
return [...set];
};
const alter = (arr, count = 3) => {
const output = [...arr];
random(arr.length, count).forEach((index) => (output[index] = 0));
return output;
};
console.log(alter(my_array));
console.log(alter(my_array));
Here is one solution.
var my_array = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"];
const substitute = array => {
const indexes = Array.from(Array(array.length).keys())
.sort(() => Math.random() - 0.5)
.slice(0, array.length / 2);
return array.map((value, index) =>
indexes.some(i => i === index) ? value : 0
);
};
console.log(substitute(my_array));
I have an array of objects
const objects = [a, b, c, d, e, f, g ... ]
and I want them to turn into
const result = [a, [b, c], d, [e, f], g ... ]
Any ideas?
[Edit] My apologies. This is my first post, didn't know I have to show my attempts. I don't think I deserve the mean comments either, be nice people. I solved it after a head-banging 4 hours. Here is my solution:
const result = []
const method = array => {
for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i += 3) {
const set = new Set([array[i + 1], array[i + 2]])
if (i !== array.length - 1) {
result.push(array[i])
result.push(Array.from(set))
} else {
result.push(array[i])
}
}
}
Thanks for the responses guys! I read every single one of them.
You could take a while loop and push either an item or a pair of items.
var array = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'],
grouped = [],
i = 0;
while (i < array.length) {
grouped.push(array[i++]);
if (i >= array.length) break;
grouped.push(array.slice(i, i += 2));
}
console.log(grouped);
You can do this with plain for loop and % modulo operator.
const objects = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g']
const result = []
for(let i = 0; i < objects.length; i++) {
if(i % 3 === 0) {
const arr = objects.slice(i + 1, i + 3)
result.push(objects[i])
if(arr.length) result.push(arr)
}
}
console.log(result)
this is my solution:
const objects = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g"];
let result = [];
let toGroup = false;
for(let i = 0; i < objects.length ; i++){
if(toGroup){
result.push([objects[i], objects[++i]]);
}
else result.push(objects[i]);
toGroup = !toGroup;
}
this has a particular case that you have not specified, where it doesn't work, for example if inside objects there are 2 elements, and so i don't know what you would like to do in that case
Let's say I have an array with arrays, such as:
const array = [
['a', 'b', 'c'],
['d', 'e'],
['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'],
['k'],
['l'],
['m'],
['n', 'o', 'p'],
['q', 'r', 's'],
['t', 'u', 'v'],
['x']
];
I want to select any combination at random that respects the following rules:
The total length of all the selected combinations must always be 10. A possible result could be the first 3 items of the array
The selected combinations must be able to be split into two groups of 5. Again, the first 3 items would respect that condition: the length of ['a', 'b, 'c'] + the length of ['d', 'e'] equals 5, and at the same time, the length of ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']equals 5. That's two groups of 5. The last 4 elements of the array, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to fulfill this condition, even though they respect the first one (total length = 10).
It might help to know the purpose of this: I have a little multiplayer game. Games need 2 teams of 5 players. And players can enter the game with a friend to play on the same team (or even 5 friends, instantly filling an entire team).
The idea: players would press 'Start'. Then my function would push them into an array like the one above. Each time a push happened, the player/team function (which I'm asking for your help) would run. If a match were found, the game would start.
I have a feeling that this would be best accomplished with some kind of recursive function, but my head is having trouble figuring it out.
After a long couple of hours here's the solution I came up with. Passed all my tests.
//const { shuffle, flatten } = require('lodash');
const pool = [
['a', 'b', 'c'],
['d', 'e'],
['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'],
['k'],
['l'],
['m'],
['n', 'o', 'p'],
['q', 'r', 's'],
['t', 'u', 'v'],
['x']
];
function getMaxPickSize ( draw ) {
let x = 5;
let y = 5;
draw.forEach( pick => {
if ( x - pick.length >= 0 ) {
x -= pick.length;
} else if ( y - pick.length >= 0 ) {
y -= pick.length;
}
});
return Math.max(x,y);
}
function doDraw( pool ) {
//no need to move further if there arent even 10 players
if ( _.flatten(pool).length < 10 ) {
return false;
}
// keep register of all draws and pools, and items. if we
// figure out an attempt doesnt work, we can go back anytime
// and skip picks that dont work
let prevs = [
// array of objects that will look like this.
// {
// pool: [],
// draw: [],
// skip: []
// }
// ...
];
//let's try. First step, shuffle the pool;
pool = _.shuffle(pool);
function doIt( curr_pool, curr_draw = [], skip_items_w_length ) {
let new_pool = [...curr_pool];
let new_draw = [...curr_draw];
let pick;
if ( skip_items_w_length == undefined ) {
//in first loop it starts here
//if we happen to have luck and fill the draw in
//one go, the else statement below will never execute
pick = new_pool.shift();
} else {
let to_skip = prevs[prevs.length - 1].skip;
to_skip.push(skip_items_w_length);
pick = _.find(new_pool, item => !to_skip.includes(item.length) );
if ( pick ) {
new_pool.splice(new_pool.indexOf(pick), 1);
} else {
if ( !prevs.length ) {
return false;
}
let prev = prevs.pop();
let prev_pool = prev.pool;
let prev_draw = prev.draw;
let last_item_in_prev_draw = prev_draw.pop();
return doIt(prev_pool, prev_draw, last_item_in_prev_draw.length );
}
}
new_draw = [...curr_draw, pick];
//if draw is complete, return it
if ( _.flatten(new_draw).length === 10 ) {
return new_draw;
}
//else draw process continues
//find items in pool that can still fit into draw
const max_pick_size = getMaxPickSize(new_draw);
new_pool = new_pool.filter(item => item.length <= max_pick_size);
//if items dont contain enough players to fill remaining spots,
//repeat this exact step, ignoring items without pick's length
//as none of the remaining picks can follow. if we discover in
// later repeats that no pick allows other picks to follow
// we'll go back 1 step, using previous pool and draw, and
// ignoring all picks with the associated picks length
if ( _.flatten(new_pool).length < 10 - _.flatten(new_draw).length ) {
return doIt(curr_pool, curr_draw, pick.length);
}
prevs.push({
pool: curr_pool,
draw: curr_draw,
skip: []
});
return doIt(new_pool, new_draw);
}
return doIt(pool);
}
const draw = doDraw( pool );
Thank you guys!
Shuffle the array, then take out unique groups till you reach five:
const array = [
['a', 'b', 'c'],
['d', 'e'],
['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'],
['k'],
['l'],
['m'],
['n', 'o', 'p'],
['q', 'r', 's'],
['t', 'u', 'v'],
['x']
];
function shuffle(arr) { /* Shuffling algorithm here */ }
shuffle(array);
// Extracts arrays with exactly "count" elements, excluding all elements in "exclude" and starting at "start" in the array
// If no combination was found, return undefined
function takeOut(array, count, start = 0, exclude = []) {
// Base case: Count wasn't reached exactly, abort here
if(count < 0) return;
// Base case: Combination was found, go up
if(count === 0) return [];
// Go over the array to find a matching combination
for(let i = start; i < array.length; i++) {
const current = array[i];
// Skip elements that should be excluded
if(exclude.includes(current)) continue;
// Recursive call: Find more elements so that a group of "count" gets reached
const rest = takeOut(array, count - current.length, i + 1, exclude);
if(!rest) continue; // If this element can't be matched up, go on
return [current, ...rest];
}
}
// Our two teams:
const first = takeOut(array, 5);
const second = takeOut(array, 5, 0, first); // all from the first team can't be in the second one
console.log(first, second);
if(first && second)
console.log("The game can start");
I came up with the solution that may not be exactly what you wanted. Anyway I think that it may help you. It finds all possible compositions and if you need only one you can choose it randomly. I also used slightly different data model: object where keys represent team sizes and values are arrays of arrays of teams with according sizes.
const UNITS_NUMBER = 2
// object format: { [number]: how-many-times-this-number-should-be-used }
const COMPOSE_VARIATIONS = [{1: 5}, {1: 3, 2: 1}, {1: 2, 3: 1}, {1: 1, 4: 1}, {1: 1, 2: 2}, {2: 1, 3: 1}, {5: 1}]
const parts = {
1: [['k'], ['l'], ['m'], ['x']],
2: [['d', 'e']],
3: [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['n', 'o', 'p'], ['q', 'r', 's'], ['t', 'u', 'v']],
4: [],
5: [['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']],
}
function getAllCompositions(allParts, unitsNumber, composeVariations) {
const result = []
const usedPartsStack = []
let units = []
let currentIndex = 0
let unitsComposed = 0
while (currentIndex < composeVariations.length) {
const variation = composeVariations[currentIndex]
if (canCreateUnit(allParts, variation)) {
const unit = getPartsForUnit(allParts, variation)
units.push(flatten(unit))
if (unitsComposed + 1 < unitsNumber) {
usedPartsStack.push({ index: currentIndex, partsUsedForUnit: unit })
allParts = removeUsedParts(allParts, variation)
unitsComposed++
} else {
result.push([...units])
units.pop()
currentIndex++
}
} else {
currentIndex++
}
while (currentIndex === composeVariations.length && usedPartsStack.length) {
const { index, partsUsedForUnit } = usedPartsStack.pop()
currentIndex = index + 1
allParts = restoreUsedParts(allParts, partsUsedForUnit)
unitsComposed--
units.pop()
}
}
return result
}
// checks if passed variation can be used to create unit from parts from allParts object
// unit is a group of parts that forms an array with total length of 5)
function canCreateUnit(allParts, variation) {
return Object.entries(variation).every(([length, count]) => allParts[length].length >= count)
}
// get real parts from allParts object according to variation passed
function getPartsForUnit(allParts, variation) {
const result = []
Object.entries(variation).forEach(([length, count]) => {
result.push(allParts[length].slice(0, count))
})
return result
}
// removes parts that were used for unit creation
function removeUsedParts(allParts, variation) {
const result = { ...allParts }
Object.entries(variation).forEach(([length, count]) => {
result[length] = result[length].slice(count)
})
return result
}
// add parts to allParts object
function restoreUsedParts(allParts, parts) {
const result = { ...allParts }
parts.forEach((item) => {
result[item[0].length] = [...item, ...result[item[0].length]]
})
return result
}
// removes one level of nesting in array
function flatten(partsForUnit) {
const result = []
partsForUnit.forEach(item => {
result.push(...item)
})
return result
}
function print(compositions) {
compositions.forEach(composition => {
composition.forEach(unit => {
console.log(unit)
})
console.log('=======================================')
})
}
print(getAllCompositions(parts, UNITS_NUMBER, COMPOSE_VARIATIONS))
I have two arrays:
var array1 = ["A", "B", "C"];
var array2 = ["1", "2", "3"];
How can I set another array to contain every combination of the above, so that:
var combos = ["A1", "A2", "A3", "B1", "B2", "B3", "C1", "C2", "C3"];
Or if you'd like to create combinations with an arbitrary number of arrays of arbitrary sizes...(I'm sure you can do this recursively, but since this isn't a job interview, I'm instead using an iterative "odometer" for this...it increments a "number" with each digit a "base-n" digit based on the length of each array)...for example...
combineArrays([ ["A","B","C"],
["+", "-", "*", "/"],
["1","2"] ] )
...returns...
[
"A+1","A+2","A-1", "A-2",
"A*1", "A*2", "A/1", "A/2",
"B+1","B+2","B-1", "B-2",
"B*1", "B*2", "B/1", "B/2",
"C+1","C+2","C-1", "C-2",
"C*1", "C*2", "C/1", "C/2"
]
...each of these corresponding to an "odometer" value that
picks an index from each array...
[0,0,0], [0,0,1], [0,1,0], [0,1,1]
[0,2,0], [0,2,1], [0,3,0], [0,3,1]
[1,0,0], [1,0,1], [1,1,0], [1,1,1]
[1,2,0], [1,2,1], [1,3,0], [1,3,1]
[2,0,0], [2,0,1], [2,1,0], [2,1,1]
[2,2,0], [2,2,1], [2,3,0], [2,3,1]
The "odometer" method allows you to easily generate
the type of output you want, not just the concatenated strings
like we have here. Besides that, by avoiding recursion
we avoid the possibility of -- dare I say it? -- a stack overflow...
function combineArrays( array_of_arrays ){
// First, handle some degenerate cases...
if( ! array_of_arrays ){
// Or maybe we should toss an exception...?
return [];
}
if( ! Array.isArray( array_of_arrays ) ){
// Or maybe we should toss an exception...?
return [];
}
if( array_of_arrays.length == 0 ){
return [];
}
for( let i = 0 ; i < array_of_arrays.length; i++ ){
if( ! Array.isArray(array_of_arrays[i]) || array_of_arrays[i].length == 0 ){
// If any of the arrays in array_of_arrays are not arrays or zero-length, return an empty array...
return [];
}
}
// Done with degenerate cases...
// Start "odometer" with a 0 for each array in array_of_arrays.
let odometer = new Array( array_of_arrays.length );
odometer.fill( 0 );
let output = [];
let newCombination = formCombination( odometer, array_of_arrays );
output.push( newCombination );
while ( odometer_increment( odometer, array_of_arrays ) ){
newCombination = formCombination( odometer, array_of_arrays );
output.push( newCombination );
}
return output;
}/* combineArrays() */
// Translate "odometer" to combinations from array_of_arrays
function formCombination( odometer, array_of_arrays ){
// In Imperative Programmingese (i.e., English):
// let s_output = "";
// for( let i=0; i < odometer.length; i++ ){
// s_output += "" + array_of_arrays[i][odometer[i]];
// }
// return s_output;
// In Functional Programmingese (Henny Youngman one-liner):
return odometer.reduce(
function(accumulator, odometer_value, odometer_index){
return "" + accumulator + array_of_arrays[odometer_index][odometer_value];
},
""
);
}/* formCombination() */
function odometer_increment( odometer, array_of_arrays ){
// Basically, work you way from the rightmost digit of the "odometer"...
// if you're able to increment without cycling that digit back to zero,
// you're all done, otherwise, cycle that digit to zero and go one digit to the
// left, and begin again until you're able to increment a digit
// without cycling it...simple, huh...?
for( let i_odometer_digit = odometer.length-1; i_odometer_digit >=0; i_odometer_digit-- ){
let maxee = array_of_arrays[i_odometer_digit].length - 1;
if( odometer[i_odometer_digit] + 1 <= maxee ){
// increment, and you're done...
odometer[i_odometer_digit]++;
return true;
}
else{
if( i_odometer_digit - 1 < 0 ){
// No more digits left to increment, end of the line...
return false;
}
else{
// Can't increment this digit, cycle it to zero and continue
// the loop to go over to the next digit...
odometer[i_odometer_digit]=0;
continue;
}
}
}/* for( let odometer_digit = odometer.length-1; odometer_digit >=0; odometer_digit-- ) */
}/* odometer_increment() */
Just in case anyone is looking for Array.map solution
var array1=["A","B","C"];
var array2=["1","2","3","4"];
console.log(array1.flatMap(d => array2.map(v => d + v)))
Seeing a lot of for loops in all of the answers...
Here's a recursive solution I came up with that will find all combinations of N number of arrays by taking 1 element from each array:
const array1=["A","B","C"]
const array2=["1","2","3"]
const array3=["red","blue","green"]
const combine = ([head, ...[headTail, ...tailTail]]) => {
if (!headTail) return head
const combined = headTail.reduce((acc, x) => {
return acc.concat(head.map(h => `${h}${x}`))
}, [])
return combine([combined, ...tailTail])
}
console.log('With your example arrays:', combine([array1, array2]))
console.log('With N arrays:', combine([array1, array2, array3]))
//-----------UPDATE BELOW FOR COMMENT---------
// With objects
const array4=[{letter: "A"}, {letter: "B"}, {letter: "C"}]
const array5=[{number: 1}, {number: 2}, {number: 3}]
const array6=[{color: "RED"}, {color: "BLUE"}, {color: "GREEN"}]
const combineObjects = ([head, ...[headTail, ...tailTail]]) => {
if (!headTail) return head
const combined = headTail.reduce((acc, x) => {
return acc.concat(head.map(h => ({...h, ...x})))
}, [])
return combineObjects([combined, ...tailTail])
}
console.log('With arrays of objects:', combineObjects([array4, array5, array6]))
A loop of this form
combos = [] //or combos = new Array(2);
for(var i = 0; i < array1.length; i++)
{
for(var j = 0; j < array2.length; j++)
{
//you would access the element of the array as array1[i] and array2[j]
//create and array with as many elements as the number of arrays you are to combine
//add them in
//you could have as many dimensions as you need
combos.push(array1[i] + array2[j])
}
}
Assuming you're using a recent web browser with support for Array.forEach:
var combos = [];
array1.forEach(function(a1){
array2.forEach(function(a2){
combos.push(a1 + a2);
});
});
If you don't have forEach, it is an easy enough exercise to rewrite this without it. As others have proven before, there's also some performance advantages to doing without... (Though I contend that not long from now, the common JavaScript runtimes will optimize away any current advantages to doing this otherwise.)
Solution enhancement for #Nitish Narang's answer.
Use reduce in combo with flatMap to support N arrays combination.
const combo = [
["A", "B", "C"],
["1", "2", "3", "4"]
];
console.log(combo.reduce((a, b) => a.flatMap(x => b.map(y => x + y)), ['']))
Here is functional programming ES6 solution:
var array1=["A","B","C"];
var array2=["1","2","3"];
var result = array1.reduce( (a, v) =>
[...a, ...array2.map(x=>v+x)],
[]);
/*---------OR--------------*/
var result1 = array1.reduce( (a, v, i) =>
a.concat(array2.map( w => v + w )),
[]);
/*-------------OR(without arrow function)---------------*/
var result2 = array1.reduce(function(a, v, i) {
a = a.concat(array2.map(function(w){
return v + w
}));
return a;
},[]
);
console.log(result);
console.log(result1);
console.log(result2)
Part II: After my complicated iterative "odometer" solution of July 2018, here's a simpler recursive version of combineArraysRecursively()...
function combineArraysRecursively( array_of_arrays ){
// First, handle some degenerate cases...
if( ! array_of_arrays ){
// Or maybe we should toss an exception...?
return [];
}
if( ! Array.isArray( array_of_arrays ) ){
// Or maybe we should toss an exception...?
return [];
}
if( array_of_arrays.length == 0 ){
return [];
}
for( let i = 0 ; i < array_of_arrays.length; i++ ){
if( ! Array.isArray(array_of_arrays[i]) || array_of_arrays[i].length == 0 ){
// If any of the arrays in array_of_arrays are not arrays or are zero-length array, return an empty array...
return [];
}
}
// Done with degenerate cases...
let outputs = [];
function permute(arrayOfArrays, whichArray=0, output=""){
arrayOfArrays[whichArray].forEach((array_element)=>{
if( whichArray == array_of_arrays.length - 1 ){
// Base case...
outputs.push( output + array_element );
}
else{
// Recursive case...
permute(arrayOfArrays, whichArray+1, output + array_element );
}
});/* forEach() */
}
permute(array_of_arrays);
return outputs;
}/* function combineArraysRecursively() */
const array1 = ["A","B","C"];
const array2 = ["+", "-", "*", "/"];
const array3 = ["1","2"];
console.log("combineArraysRecursively(array1, array2, array3) = ", combineArraysRecursively([array1, array2, array3]) );
Here is another take. Just one function and no recursion.
function allCombinations(arrays) {
const numberOfCombinations = arrays.reduce(
(res, array) => res * array.length,
1
)
const result = Array(numberOfCombinations)
.fill(0)
.map(() => [])
let repeatEachElement
for (let i = 0; i < arrays.length; i++) {
const array = arrays[i]
repeatEachElement = repeatEachElement ?
repeatEachElement / array.length :
numberOfCombinations / array.length
const everyElementRepeatedLength = repeatEachElement * array.length
for (let j = 0; j < numberOfCombinations; j++) {
const index = Math.floor(
(j % everyElementRepeatedLength) / repeatEachElement
)
result[j][i] = array[index]
}
}
return result
}
const result = allCombinations([
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'],
[1, 2, 3],
[true, false],
])
console.log(result.join('\n'))
Arbitrary number of arrays, arbitrary number of elements.
Sort of using number base theory I guess - the j-th array changes to the next element every time the number of combinations of the j-1 arrays has been exhausted. Calling these arrays 'vectors' here.
let vectorsInstance = [
[1, 2],
[6, 7, 9],
[10, 11],
[1, 5, 8, 17]]
function getCombos(vectors) {
function countComb(vectors) {
let numComb = 1
for (vector of vectors) {
numComb *= vector.length
}
return numComb
}
let allComb = countComb(vectors)
let combos = []
for (let i = 0; i < allComb; i++) {
let thisCombo = []
for (j = 0; j < vectors.length; j++) {
let vector = vectors[j]
let prevComb = countComb(vectors.slice(0, j))
thisCombo.push(vector[Math.floor(i / prevComb) % vector.length])
}
combos.push(thisCombo)
}
return combos
}
console.log(getCombos(vectorsInstance))
While there's already plenty of good answers to get every combination, which is of course the original question, I'd just like to add a solution for pagination. Whenever there's permutations involved, there's the risk of extremely large numbers. Let's say, for whatever reason, we wanted to build an interface where a user could still browse through pages of practically unlimited permutations, e.g. show permutations 750-760 out of one gazillion.
We could do so using an odometer similar to the one in John's solution. Instead of only incrementing our way through the odometer, we also calculate its initial value, similar to how you'd convert for example seconds into a hh:mm:ss clock.
function getPermutations(arrays, startIndex = 0, endIndex) {
if (
!Array.isArray(arrays) ||
arrays.length === 0 ||
arrays.some(array => !Array.isArray(array))
) {
return { start: 0, end: 0, total: 0, permutations: [] };
}
const permutations = [];
const arrayCount = arrays.length;
const arrayLengths = arrays.map(a => a.length);
const maxIndex = arrayLengths.reduce(
(product, arrayLength) => product * arrayLength,
1,
);
if (typeof endIndex !== 'number' || endIndex > maxIndex) {
endIndex = maxIndex;
}
const odometer = Array.from({ length: arrayCount }).fill(0);
for (let i = startIndex; i < endIndex; i++) {
let _i = i; // _i is modified and assigned to odometer indexes
for (let odometerIndex = arrayCount - 1; odometerIndex >= 0; odometerIndex--) {
odometer[odometerIndex] = _i % arrayLengths[odometerIndex];
if (odometer[odometerIndex] > 0 && i > startIndex) {
// Higher order values in existing odometer are still valid
// if we're not hitting 0, since there's been no overflow.
// However, startIndex always needs to follow through the loop
// to assign initial odometer.
break;
}
// Prepare _i for next odometer index by truncating rightmost digit
_i = Math.floor(_i / arrayLengths[odometerIndex]);
}
permutations.push(
odometer.map(
(odometerValue, odometerIndex) => arrays[odometerIndex][odometerValue],
),
);
}
return {
start: startIndex,
end: endIndex,
total: maxIndex,
permutations,
};
}
So for the original question, we'd do
getPermutations([['A', 'B', 'C'], ['1', '2', '3']]);
-->
{
"start": 0,
"end": 9,
"total": 9,
"permutations": [
["A", "1"],
["A", "2"],
["A", "3"],
["B", "1"],
["B", "2"],
["B", "3"],
["C", "1"],
["C", "2"],
["C", "3"]
]
}
but we could also do
getPermutations([['A', 'B', 'C'], ['1', '2', '3']], 2, 5);
-->
{
"start": 2,
"end": 5,
"total": 9,
"permutations": [
["A", "3"],
["B", "1"],
["B", "2"]
]
}
And more importantly, we could do
getPermutations(
[
new Array(1000).fill(0),
new Array(1000).fill(1),
new Array(1000).fill(2),
new Array(1000).fill(3),
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'],
['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J'],
['X', 'Y', 'Z'],
['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6']
],
750,
760
);
-->
{
"start": 750,
"end": 760,
"total": 1800000000000000,
"permutations": [
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "1"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "2"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "3"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "4"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "5"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "B", "Z", "6"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "C", "X", "1"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "C", "X", "2"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "C", "X", "3"],
[0, 1, 2, 3, "e", "C", "X", "4"]
]
}
without the computer hanging.
Here's a short recursive one that takes N arrays.
function permuteArrays(first, next, ...rest) {
if (rest.length) next = permuteArrays(next, ...rest);
return first.flatMap(a => next.map(b => [a, b].flat()));
}
Or with reduce (slight enhancement of Penny Liu's):
function multiply(a, b) {
return a.flatMap(c => b.map(d => [c, d].flat()));
}
[['a', 'b', 'c'], ['+', '-'], [1, 2, 3]].reduce(multiply);
Runnable example:
function permuteArrays(first, next, ...rest) {
if (rest.length) next = permuteArrays(next, ...rest);
return first.flatMap(a => next.map(b => [a, b].flat()));
}
const squish = arr => arr.join('');
console.log(
permuteArrays(['A', 'B', 'C'], ['+', '-', '×', '÷'], [1, 2]).map(squish),
permuteArrays(['a', 'b', 'c'], [1, 2, 3]).map(squish),
permuteArrays([['a', 'foo'], 'b'], [1, 2]).map(squish),
permuteArrays(['a', 'b', 'c'], [1, 2, 3], ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']).map(squish),
)
I had a similar requirement, but I needed get all combinations of the keys of an object so that I could split it into multiple objects. For example, I needed to convert the following;
{ key1: [value1, value2], key2: [value3, value4] }
into the following 4 objects
{ key1: value1, key2: value3 }
{ key1: value1, key2: value4 }
{ key1: value2, key2: value3 }
{ key1: value2, key2: value4 }
I solved this with an entry function splitToMultipleKeys and a recursive function spreadKeys;
function spreadKeys(master, objects) {
const masterKeys = Object.keys(master);
const nextKey = masterKeys.pop();
const nextValue = master[nextKey];
const newObjects = [];
for (const value of nextValue) {
for (const ob of objects) {
const newObject = Object.assign({ [nextKey]: value }, ob);
newObjects.push(newObject);
}
}
if (masterKeys.length === 0) {
return newObjects;
}
const masterClone = Object.assign({}, master);
delete masterClone[nextKey];
return spreadKeys(masterClone, newObjects);
}
export function splitToMultipleKeys(key) {
const objects = [{}];
return spreadKeys(key, objects);
}
one more:
const buildCombinations = (allGroups: string[][]) => {
const indexInArray = new Array(allGroups.length);
indexInArray.fill(0);
let arrayIndex = 0;
const resultArray: string[] = [];
while (allGroups[arrayIndex]) {
let str = "";
allGroups.forEach((g, index) => {
str += g[indexInArray[index]];
});
resultArray.push(str);
// if not last item in array already, switch index to next item in array
if (indexInArray[arrayIndex] < allGroups[arrayIndex].length - 1) {
indexInArray[arrayIndex] += 1;
} else {
// set item index for the next array
indexInArray[arrayIndex] = 0;
arrayIndex += 1;
// exclude arrays with 1 element
while (allGroups[arrayIndex] && allGroups[arrayIndex].length === 1) {
arrayIndex += 1;
}
indexInArray[arrayIndex] = 1;
}
}
return resultArray;
};
One example:
const testArrays = [["a","b"],["c"],["d","e","f"]]
const result = buildCombinations(testArrays)
// -> ["acd","bcd","ace","acf"]
My version of the solution by John D. Aynedjian, which I rewrote for my own understanding.
console.log(getPermutations([["A","B","C"],["1","2","3"]]));
function getPermutations(arrayOfArrays)
{
let permutations=[];
let remainder,permutation;
let permutationCount=1;
let placeValue=1;
let placeValues=new Array(arrayOfArrays.length);
for(let i=arrayOfArrays.length-1;i>=0;i--)
{
placeValues[i]=placeValue;
placeValue*=arrayOfArrays[i].length;
}
permutationCount=placeValue;
for(let i=0;i<permutationCount;i++)
{
remainder=i;
permutation=[];
for(let j=0;j<arrayOfArrays.length;j++)
{
permutation[j]=arrayOfArrays[j][Math.floor(remainder/placeValues[j])];
remainder=remainder%placeValues[j];
}
permutations.push(permutation.reduce((prev,curr)=>prev+curr,"")); }
return permutations;
}
First express arrays as array of arrays:
arrayOfArrays=[["A","B","C"],["a","b","c","d"],["1","2"]];
Next work out the number of permuations in the solution by multiplying the number of elements in each array by each other:
//["A","B","C"].length*["a","b","c","d"].length*["1","2"].length //24 permuations
Then give each array a place value, starting with the last:
//["1","2"] place value 1
//["a","b","c","d"] place value 2 (each one of these letters has 2 possibilities to the right i.e. 1 and 2)
//["A","B","C"] place value 8 (each one of these letters has 8 possibilities to the right i.e. a1,a2,b1,b2,c1,c2,d1,d2
placeValues=[8,2,1]
This allows each element to be represented by a single digit:
arrayOfArrays[0][2]+arrayOfArrays[1][3]+arrayOfArrays[2][0] //"Cc1"
...would be:
2*placeValues[2]+3*placesValues[1]+0*placeValues[2] //2*8+3*2+0*1=22
We actually need to do the reverse of this so convert numbers 0 to the number of permutations to an index of each array using quotients and remainders of the permutation number.
Like so:
//0 = [0,0,0], 1 = [0,0,1], 2 = [0,1,0], 3 = [0,1,1]
for(let i=0;i<permutationCount;i++)
{
remainder=i;
permutation=[];
for(let j=0;j<arrayOfArrays.length;j++)
{
permutation[j]=arrayOfArrays[j][Math.floor(remainder/placeValues[j])];
remainder=remainder%placeValues[j];
}
permutations.push(permutation.join(""));
}
The last bit turns the permutation into a string, as requested.
Make a loop like this
->
let numbers = [1,2,3,4,5];
let letters = ["A","B","C","D","E"];
let combos = [];
for(let i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
combos.push(letters[i] + numbers[i]);
};
But you should make the array of “numbers” and “letters” at the same length thats it!
How can I produce all of the combinations of the values in N number of JavaScript arrays of variable lengths?
Let's say I have N number of JavaScript arrays, e.g.
var first = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
var second = ['e'];
var third = ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'];
(Three arrays in this example, but its N number of arrays for the problem.)
And I want to output all the combinations of their values, to produce
aef
aeg
aeh
aei
aej
bef
beg
....
dej
EDIT: Here's the version I got working, using ffriend's accepted answer as the basis.
var allArrays = [['a', 'b'], ['c', 'z'], ['d', 'e', 'f']];
function allPossibleCases(arr) {
if (arr.length === 0) {
return [];
}
else if (arr.length ===1){
return arr[0];
}
else {
var result = [];
var allCasesOfRest = allPossibleCases(arr.slice(1)); // recur with the rest of array
for (var c in allCasesOfRest) {
for (var i = 0; i < arr[0].length; i++) {
result.push(arr[0][i] + allCasesOfRest[c]);
}
}
return result;
}
}
var results = allPossibleCases(allArrays);
//outputs ["acd", "bcd", "azd", "bzd", "ace", "bce", "aze", "bze", "acf", "bcf", "azf", "bzf"]
This is not permutations, see permutations definitions from Wikipedia.
But you can achieve this with recursion:
var allArrays = [
['a', 'b'],
['c'],
['d', 'e', 'f']
]
function allPossibleCases(arr) {
if (arr.length == 1) {
return arr[0];
} else {
var result = [];
var allCasesOfRest = allPossibleCases(arr.slice(1)); // recur with the rest of array
for (var i = 0; i < allCasesOfRest.length; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < arr[0].length; j++) {
result.push(arr[0][j] + allCasesOfRest[i]);
}
}
return result;
}
}
console.log(allPossibleCases(allArrays))
You can also make it with loops, but it will be a bit tricky and will require implementing your own analogue of stack.
I suggest a simple recursive generator function as follows:
// Generate cartesian product of given iterables:
function* cartesian(head, ...tail) {
let remainder = tail.length ? cartesian(...tail) : [[]];
for (let r of remainder) for (let h of head) yield [h, ...r];
}
// Example:
const first = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
const second = ['e'];
const third = ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'];
console.log(...cartesian(first, second, third));
You don't need recursion, or heavily nested loops, or even to generate/store the whole array of permutations in memory.
Since the number of permutations is the product of the lengths of each of the arrays (call this numPerms), you can create a function getPermutation(n) that returns a unique permutation between index 0 and numPerms - 1 by calculating the indices it needs to retrieve its characters from, based on n.
How is this done? If you think of creating permutations on arrays each containing: [0, 1, 2, ... 9] it's very simple... the 245th permutation (n=245) is "245", rather intuitively, or:
arrayHundreds[Math.floor(n / 100) % 10]
+ arrayTens[Math.floor(n / 10) % 10]
+ arrayOnes[Math.floor(n / 1) % 10]
The complication in your problem is that array sizes differ. We can work around this by replacing the n/100, n/10, etc... with other divisors. We can easily pre-calculate an array of divisors for this purpose. In the above example, the divisor of 100 was equal to arrayTens.length * arrayOnes.length. Therefore we can calculate the divisor for a given array to be the product of the lengths of the remaining arrays. The very last array always has a divisor of 1. Also, instead of modding by 10, we mod by the length of the current array.
Example code is below:
var allArrays = [first, second, third, ...];
// Pre-calculate divisors
var divisors = [];
for (var i = allArrays.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
divisors[i] = divisors[i + 1] ? divisors[i + 1] * allArrays[i + 1].length : 1;
}
function getPermutation(n) {
var result = "", curArray;
for (var i = 0; i < allArrays.length; i++) {
curArray = allArrays[i];
result += curArray[Math.floor(n / divisors[i]) % curArray.length];
}
return result;
}
Provided answers looks too difficult for me. So my solution is:
var allArrays = new Array(['a', 'b'], ['c', 'z'], ['d', 'e', 'f']);
function getPermutation(array, prefix) {
prefix = prefix || '';
if (!array.length) {
return prefix;
}
var result = array[0].reduce(function(result, value) {
return result.concat(getPermutation(array.slice(1), prefix + value));
}, []);
return result;
}
console.log(getPermutation(allArrays));
You could take a single line approach by generating a cartesian product.
result = items.reduce(
(a, b) => a.reduce(
(r, v) => r.concat(b.map(w => [].concat(v, w))),
[]
)
);
var items = [['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], ['e'], ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']],
result = items.reduce((a, b) => a.reduce((r, v) => r.concat(b.map(w => [].concat(v, w))), []));
console.log(result.map(a => a.join(' ')));
.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }
Copy of le_m's Answer to take Array of Arrays directly:
function *combinations(arrOfArr) {
let [head, ...tail] = arrOfArr
let remainder = tail.length ? combinations(tail) : [[]];
for (let r of remainder) for (let h of head) yield [h, ...r];
}
Hope it saves someone's time.
You can use a typical backtracking:
function cartesianProductConcatenate(arr) {
var data = new Array(arr.length);
return (function* recursive(pos) {
if(pos === arr.length) yield data.join('');
else for(var i=0; i<arr[pos].length; ++i) {
data[pos] = arr[pos][i];
yield* recursive(pos+1);
}
})(0);
}
I used generator functions to avoid allocating all the results simultaneously, but if you want you can
[...cartesianProductConcatenate([['a', 'b'], ['c', 'z'], ['d', 'e', 'f']])];
// ["acd","ace","acf","azd","aze","azf","bcd","bce","bcf","bzd","bze","bzf"]
Easiest way to find the Combinations
const arr1= [ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' ];
const arr2= [ '1', '2', '3' ];
const arr3= [ 'x', 'y', ];
const all = [arr1, arr2, arr3];
const output = all.reduce((acc, cu) => {
let ret = [];
acc.map(obj => {
cu.map(obj_1 => {
ret.push(obj + '-' + obj_1)
});
});
return ret;
})
console.log(output);
If you're looking for a flow-compatible function that can handle two dimensional arrays with any item type, you can use the function below.
const getUniqueCombinations = <T>(items : Array<Array<T>>, prepend : Array<T> = []) : Array<Array<T>> => {
if(!items || items.length === 0) return [prepend];
let out = [];
for(let i = 0; i < items[0].length; i++){
out = [...out, ...getUniqueCombinations(items.slice(1), [...prepend, items[0][i]])];
}
return out;
}
A visualisation of the operation:
in:
[
[Obj1, Obj2, Obj3],
[Obj4, Obj5],
[Obj6, Obj7]
]
out:
[
[Obj1, Obj4, Obj6 ],
[Obj1, Obj4, Obj7 ],
[Obj1, Obj5, Obj6 ],
[Obj1, Obj5, Obj7 ],
[Obj2, Obj4, Obj6 ],
[Obj2, Obj4, Obj7 ],
[Obj2, Obj5, Obj6 ],
[Obj2, Obj5, Obj7 ],
[Obj3, Obj4, Obj6 ],
[Obj3, Obj4, Obj7 ],
[Obj3, Obj5, Obj6 ],
[Obj3, Obj5, Obj7 ]
]
You could create a 2D array and reduce it. Then use flatMap to create combinations of strings in the accumulator array and the current array being iterated and concatenate them.
const data = [ ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], ['e'], ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'] ]
const output = data.reduce((acc, cur) => acc.flatMap(c => cur.map(n => c + n)) )
console.log(output)
2021 version of David Tang's great answer
Also inspired with Neil Mountford's answer
const getAllCombinations = (arraysToCombine) => {
const divisors = [];
let permsCount = 1;
for (let i = arraysToCombine.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
divisors[i] = divisors[i + 1] ? divisors[i + 1] * arraysToCombine[i + 1].length : 1;
permsCount *= (arraysToCombine[i].length || 1);
}
const getCombination = (n, arrays, divisors) => arrays.reduce((acc, arr, i) => {
acc.push(arr[Math.floor(n / divisors[i]) % arr.length]);
return acc;
}, []);
const combinations = [];
for (let i = 0; i < permsCount; i++) {
combinations.push(getCombination(i, arraysToCombine, divisors));
}
return combinations;
};
console.log(getAllCombinations([['a', 'b'], ['c', 'z'], ['d', 'e', 'f']]));
Benchmarks: https://jsbench.me/gdkmxhm36d/1
Here's a version adapted from the above couple of answers, that produces the results in the order specified in the OP, and returns strings instead of arrays:
function *cartesianProduct(...arrays) {
if (!arrays.length) yield [];
else {
const [tail, ...head] = arrays.reverse();
const beginning = cartesianProduct(...head.reverse());
for (let b of beginning) for (let t of tail) yield b + t;
}
}
const first = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
const second = ['e'];
const third = ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j'];
console.log([...cartesianProduct(first, second, third)])
You could use this function too:
const result = (arrayOfArrays) => arrayOfArrays.reduce((t, i) => { let ac = []; for (const ti of t) { for (const ii of i) { ac.push(ti + '/' + ii) } } return ac })
result([['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], ['e'], ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']])
// which will output [ 'a/e/f', 'a/e/g', 'a/e/h','a/e/i','a/e/j','b/e/f','b/e/g','b/e/h','b/e/i','b/e/j','c/e/f','c/e/g','c/e/h','c/e/i','c/e/j','d/e/f','d/e/g','d/e/h','d/e/i','d/e/j']
Of course you can remove the + '/' in ac.push(ti + '/' + ii) to eliminate the slash from the final result. And you can replace those for (... of ...) with forEach functions (plus respective semicolon before return ac), whatever of those you are more comfortable with.
An array approach without recursion:
const combinations = [['1', '2', '3'], ['4', '5', '6'], ['7', '8']];
let outputCombinations = combinations[0]
combinations.slice(1).forEach(row => {
outputCombinations = outputCombinations.reduce((acc, existing) =>
acc.concat(row.map(item => existing + item))
, []);
});
console.log(outputCombinations);
let arr1 = [`a`, `b`, `c`];
let arr2 = [`p`, `q`, `r`];
let arr3 = [`x`, `y`, `z`];
let result = [];
arr1.forEach(e1 => {
arr2.forEach(e2 => {
arr3.forEach(e3 => {
result[result.length] = e1 + e2 + e3;
});
});
});
console.log(result);
/*
output:
[
'apx', 'apy', 'apz', 'aqx',
'aqy', 'aqz', 'arx', 'ary',
'arz', 'bpx', 'bpy', 'bpz',
'bqx', 'bqy', 'bqz', 'brx',
'bry', 'brz', 'cpx', 'cpy',
'cpz', 'cqx', 'cqy', 'cqz',
'crx', 'cry', 'crz'
]
*/
A solution without recursion, which also includes a function to retrieve a single combination by its id:
function getCombination(data, i) {
return data.map(group => {
let choice = group[i % group.length]
i = (i / group.length) | 0;
return choice;
});
}
function* combinations(data) {
let count = data.reduce((sum, {length}) => sum * length, 1);
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
yield getCombination(data, i);
}
}
let data = [['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], ['e'], ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']];
for (let combination of combinations(data)) {
console.log(...combination);
}