Develop Reference

Better way to check if an element only exists in one array

I need help with creating a function to return the elements that are only present in one of 3 arrays, for example
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a']
In the three arrays above, 'd' and 'f' are found only in one of the arrays (arr2 and arr3), I need to return them.
['d','f']
The arrays can be of different sizes and the returned elements must not be duplicated.
I tried to find better alternatives, but I failed and just went with the brute force approach, looping through each array and checking if the element exists in the other two arrays, but obviously, it's really slow and hard to read.
function elementsInOnlyOneArr(a1, a2, a3) {
let myArr = [];
for(let el of a1){
if(a2.includes(el) == false && a3.includes(el) == false && myArr.includes(el) == false){
myArr.push(el);
}
}
for(let el of a2){
if(a1.includes(el) == false && a3.includes(el) == false && myArr.includes(el) == false){
myArr.push(el);
}
}
for(let el of a3){
if(a2.includes(el) == false && a1.includes(el) == false && myArr.includes(el) == false){
myArr.push(el);
}
}
return myArr;
}

Assuming there are less than 32 arrays, you can do this efficiently with bitmaps. Basically, build an index key -> number where the number has the Nth bit set if the key is in the Nth array. Finally return keys whose numbers only have a single bit set (=are powers of two):
function difference(...arrays) {
let items = {}
for (let [n, a] of arrays.entries())
for (let x of a) {
items[x] = (items[x] ?? 0) | (1 << n)
}
return Object.keys(items).filter(x =>
Number.isInteger(Math.log2(items[x])))
}
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b', 'z', 'z', 'z']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a']
console.log(difference(arr1, arr2, arr3))
(As noted in the comments x & (x-1) === 0 would be more idiomatic to check whether x is a power of two. See How does the formula x & (x - 1) works? for explanations.)
Here's a more general approach that doesn't limit the number of arrays and doesn't require keys to be strings:
function difference(...arrays) {
let items = new Map
for (let [n, a] of arrays.entries())
for (let x of a) {
if (!items.has(x))
items.set(x, new Set)
items.get(x).add(n)
}
let result = []
for (let [x, ns] of items)
if (ns.size === 1)
result.push(x)
return result
}
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b', 'z', 'z', 'z']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a']
console.log(difference(arr1, arr2, arr3))

EDIT: Misunderstood OP and it's not an intersect, but extracting values that are unique (e.g. NOT the intersection) between the individual arrays, for that this might work:
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
const thereCanOnlyBeOne = function(...arrs) {
return Array.from(
arrs.reduce((map, arr) => {
new Set(arr).forEach((v) => map.set(v, map.has(v) ? map.get(v)+1 : 1));
return map;
}, new Map())
)
.filter(([value, count]) => count === 1)
.map(([value, count]) => value);
};
console.log(thereCanOnlyBeOne(arr1, arr2, arr3));
I would think #gog's answer is way more sophisticated and probably much faster, but i have a slightly hard time wrapping my head around it (call me stupid, i take it =D, EDIT: had to do some research, read/learn something about bitsets here and here), so here's the breakdown of the slightly convoluted way of doing this with a Map and array methods:
pass all arrays to be analyzed into function, order doesn't matter
Loop (i chose reduce, but any loop structure works) trough all input arrays and their values, counting up occurrences in the Map, at the end the Map will look as follows:
0: {"a" => 4}
1: {"b" => 3}
2: {"c" => 3}
3: {"d" => 1}
4: {"f" => 1}
Once done with that, we convert the Map back into an array via Array.from() creating an array of tuples:
[
["a", 4],
["b", 3],
["c", 3],
["d", 1],
["f", 1],
]
Filter that resulting array of tuples (now in the form of [<value>, <count>] to only be left with values that exactly occurred once, leaving us with:
[
["d", 1],
["f", 1],
]
Map over the filtered array to "dumb" it down into a one-dimensional array again and return the result:
["d", "f"]
WARNING: Internally this code does a ****load of loops, so call it a brute-force loop as well, it just looks "shorter" due to "sexy" ES6 array-syntax-sugar.
A slightly modified version for completeness as the Array.filter() step can be omitted (although it seems to be faster) by iterating the counter-Map once it's finalized and simply deleting Map-entries that do not have value 1.
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
const thereCanOnlyBeOne = function(...arrs) {
let result;
arrs
.reduce((map, arr) => {
new Set(arr).forEach((v) => map.set(v, map.has(v) ? map.get(v)+1 : 1));
return map;
}, new Map())
// the result of .reduce will be a Map!
.forEach((value, key, map) => { value !== 1 && map.delete(key); result = map; });
return Array.from(result).map(([value, count]) => value);
};
console.log(thereCanOnlyBeOne(arr1, arr2, arr3));
UPDATE: as #Nick Parsons pointed out, the previous version of the code would not output elements that were only present in one array, but multiple times.
This will produce an incorrect output if one array contains the same value multiple times and that element isn't present in any other arrays. eg, if you remove b from arr2, then only arr1 has b in it but no others do, so it should b should be included in the final result.
This can easily be solved by turning the array that is checked into a Set() (thereby reducing the arrays values to "unique" ones).
If anyone (besides me) wonders, here's a benchmark between gog's options and mine, his bitset approach is clearly the fastest, so if you are comparing less than 32 arrays, that's the most performant solution by far: https://jsben.ch/YkKSu
and if anyone prefers an ES6-ified version of gog's bitset implementation (improved by #ralphmerridew suggestion), here you go:
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
function onlyone(...arrays) {
return Object.entries(
arrays.reduce((map, arr, n) => {
arr.forEach((v) => map[v] = (map[v] ?? 0) | (1 << n));
return map;
}, {})
)
.filter(([value, bitmap]) => (bitmap & (bitmap-1)) == 0)
.map(([value, bitmap]) => value);
};
console.log(onlyone(arr1, arr2, arr3));
updated the benchmark with this as well, interestingly (or unexpectedly) this "slower"-looking ES6 implementation somehow beats gog's for-loop implementation by a tad, tested in chrome and firefox multiple times, as i couldn't believe it myself, thought those syntax-sugar methods slow things down slightly compared to for loops, well...good to know =)
I also tried implementing the bitset approach with BigInt() to eliminate the issue with it only being able to deal with 32 arrays (depending on the Engine with BigInt it should be possible to deal with 1 million to 1 billion arrays), unfortunately that seems to make it the slowest of all solutions (benchmark updated):
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
function onlyoneBigInt(...arrays) {
return Object.entries(
arrays.reduce((map, arr, n) => {
arr.forEach((v) => map[v] = (map[v] ?? 0n) | (1n << BigInt(n)));
return map;
}, {})
)
.filter(([value, bitmap]) => (bitmap & (bitmap-1n)) == 0)
.map(([value, bitmap]) => value);
};
console.log(onlyoneBigInt(arr1, arr2, arr3));
Maybe someone sees something that can be improved to make this faster?

This is really just Set operations. The method single below finds any entry in a test array that does not appear in the other arrays in the collection. Deliberately implementing this so you can test individual arrays since it's not clear in the question if you need to return the letters, or the arrays.
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a']
// The set of arrays
let arrays = [ arr1, arr2, arr3 ]
// Finds any entries in the test array that doesn't appear in the arrays that aren't the test arrays
let singles = (test) => {
// others is the Set of all value in the other arrays
others = arrays.reduce( ( accum, elem ) => {
if (elem != test) { elem.forEach(accum.add, accum) }
return accum
}, new Set())
// find anything in the test array that the others do not have
return [...new Set(test.filter( value => ! others.has(value) ))]
}
// collect results from testing all arrays
result = []
for(const array of arrays) { result.push(...singles(array))
}
console.log(result)
Borrowing the parameter construction from #gog's excellent answer, you could also define it so that it takes a test array and an arbitrary collection of arrays to test against:
let singles = (test, ...arrays) => {
// others is the Set of all value in the other arrays
others = arrays.reduce( ( accum, elem ) => {
if (elem != test) { elem.forEach(accum.add, accum) }
return accum
}, new Set())
// find anything in the test array that the others do not have
return [...new Set(test.filter( value => ! others.has(value) ))]
}
console.log(singles(arr2, arr1, arr2, arr3))
The advantage here is that this should work with any number of arrays, while gog's answer is probably faster for a collection of less than 32 arrays (or technically any number if you were willing to extend it using BigInt, but that may lose some of the speed)

A fairly simple approach:
const inOnlyOne = (
xss,
keys = [... new Set (xss .flat ())],
uniques = xss .map (xs => new Set (xs))
) => keys .filter (k => uniques .filter (f => f .has (k)) .length == 1)
console .log (inOnlyOne ([['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'], ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'], ['f', 'c', 'a']]))
We find the list of unique keys by flattening our array of arrays and turning that into a Set and then back into an array, convert the arrays into Sets, then filter the keys to find only those where the number of sets including that key has exactly one entry.
There is a little inefficiency here in that we check all the Sets when seeing if a number is in there. It would be easy enough to modify it to check only until we find a second Set, but the code would be more complex. I would only bother to do so if I found that this simple version was not performant enough for my needs.
One advantage of this approach is that it works for other data types than strings and numbers:
const a = {a: 1}, b = {b: 3}, c = {c: 3}, d = {d: 4}, e = {e: 5}, f = {f: 6}
inOnlyOne ([[a, b, c, a, b], [a, d, b, c], [f, c, a]])
//=> [{d: 4}, {f: 6}]
Of course that only helps if your items are shared references. If you wanted to use value equality rather than reference equality, it would be significantly more complex.
If we wanted to pass the arrays individually, rather than wrap them in a common array, this variant should work:
const inOnlyOne = (...xss) => ((
keys = [... new Set (xss .flat ())],
uniques = xss .map (xs => new Set (xs))
) => keys .filter (k => uniques .filter (f => f .has (k)) .length == 1)
) ()

The Array.prototype.includes() method seems like the way to go here.
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a', 'f']
var arrays = [arr1,arr2,arr3];
const items = arr1.concat(arr2, arr3);
let results = [];
items.forEach(isInOneArray);
function isInOneArray(item){
let found = 0;
for (const arr of arrays){
if (arr.includes(item)){
found ++;
}
}
if (found===1 && !results.includes(item)){
results.push(item);
}
}
console.log(results);

This is a brute force iterator much like your own, but reduces the number of re-entries by removing items from the array:
function elementsInOnlyOneArr(...arrays) {
// de-dup and sort so we process the longest array first
let sortedArrays = arrays.map(ar => [...new Set(ar)]).sort((a,b) => b.length - a.length);
for (let ai1 = 0 ; ai1 < sortedArrays.length; ai1 ++) {
for(let i = sortedArrays[ai1].length - 1; i >= 0; i --){
let exists = false;
let val = sortedArrays[ai1][i];
for(let ai2 = ai1 + 1 ; ai2 < sortedArrays.length ; ai2 ++) {
let foundIndex = sortedArrays[ai2].indexOf(val);
if (foundIndex >= 0) {
exists = true;
sortedArrays[ai2].splice(foundIndex,1);
// do not break, check for match in the other arrays
}
}
// if there was a match in any of the other arrays, remove it from the first one too!
if (exists)
sortedArrays[ai1].splice(i,1);
}
}
// concat the remaining elements, they are all unique
let output = sortedArrays[0];
for(let i = 1; i < sortedArrays.length; i ++)
output = output.concat(sortedArrays[i]);
return output;
}
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b']
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c']
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a']
console.log(elementsInOnlyOneArr(arr1,arr2,arr3));
See this fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/4deq7xwm/
Updated - Use splice() instead of pop()

Create a collection of pairs (x,y) where x is an element (in your case, a string) and y identifies the array it comes from. Sort this in O(log n) time by x first (where n is the total number of items over all arrays). It is easy to iterate over the result and detect the desired items.

This is easily solved with the built-in .lastIndexOf() Array method:
const arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
const arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
const arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
function getValuesInOneArray(...arrays) {
const combinedArr = arrays.flat();
const result = [];
for (const value of combinedArr) {
if (combinedArr.indexOf(value) === combinedArr.lastIndexOf(value)) {
result.push(value);
}
}
return result;
}
getValuesInOneArray(arr1, arr2, arr3); // ['d', 'f']
I generally try to avoid "ninja code" for the benefit of maintainability and readability, but I couldn't resist rewriting the above getValuesInOneArray() function as a slicker arrow function.
const getValuesInOneArray = (...arrays) =>
arrays
.flat()
.filter(
(value, index, array) => array.indexOf(value) === array.lastIndexOf(value)
);
You can read more about "ninja code" (and why you should avoid it) here, on Javacript.info, but I recommend avoiding practices like this in production codebases.
Hope this helps.

function elementsInOnlyOneArr(arr1, arr2, arr3){
let arr = arr1.concat(arr2).concat(arr3);
return removeDuplicate(arr);
}
function removeDuplicate(arr){
for(each of arr){
let count = 0;
for(ch of arr){
if(each === ch){
count++;
if(count > 1){
//removing element that exist more than one
arr = arr.filter(item => item !== each);
return removeDuplicate(arr);
}
}
}
}
return arr;
}
let arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
let arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
let arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
console.log(elementsInOnlyOneArr(arr1, arr2, arr3));

Do a diff of each of the array and concat those to get the unique values only in any one of the arrays.
const arr1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b'];
const arr2 = ['a', 'd', 'b', 'c'];
const arr3 = ['f', 'c', 'a'];
function diff(a1, a2, a3) {
let u1 = a1.filter(el => { return !a2.includes(el) })
.filter(el => { return !a3.includes(el) });
let u2 = a2.filter(el => { return !a1.includes(el) })
.filter(el => { return !a3.includes(el) });
let u3 = a3.filter(el => { return !a2.includes(el) })
.filter(el => { return !a1.includes(el) });
return u1.concat(u2).concat(u3);
}
/* diff them */
const adiff = diff(arr1, arr2, arr3);
console.log(adiff);

How to push values into array using recursive function?

I'm trying to push values into array by recursive function, but I get the error message "Uncaught TypeError: Array.push() is not a function", although the push() method is a regular array method. Where the problem could be?
let someArr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
let someNum = 3;
let fillArr = (arr, num) => x = (num != 0) ? fillArr(arr.push(num), num -1) : arr;
console.log(fillArr(someArr, someNum))
// expected output: ['a', 'b', 'c', 3, 2, 1];
// actual output: Uncaught TypeError: arr.push is not a function

The comma operator is often overlooked; it could provide a nice escape hatch:
const fillArr =
(arr, num) =>
(num === 0
? arr
: fillArr((arr.push(num), arr), num - 1));
//..............^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
fillArr(['a', 'b', 'c'], 3)
//=> ["a", "b", "c", 3, 2, 1]
However you shouldn't work on the original array with Array#push as it will mutate it (unless it was your intention!)
const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
fillArr(arr, 3);
arr;
//=> ["a", "b", "c", 3, 2, 1] Oops!
Instead you should work with a new array:
const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
const fillArr =
(arr, num, nums = []) =>
(num === 0
? arr.concat(nums)
: fillArr(arr, num - 1, (nums.push(num), nums)));
fillArr(arr, 3);
//=> ["a", "b", "c", 3, 2, 1]
arr;
//=> ["a", "b", "c"]

What Mr.#deceze said is correct. If you still want to do that..
Do something like
let fillArr = (arr, num) => x = (num != 0) ? fillArr(arr, num -1, arr.push(num)) : arr;
fillArr will receive someArr got num pushed and the last argument will be ignored

Trying to split array into specified amount of subarrays in javascript

I'm writing a function that takes an array and a number parameter and returns the number amount of arrays split from the given array. So the call chunkArrayInGroups(["a", "b", "c", "d"], 2); should return [a,b] [c,d]. My code is returning [a,c] [b,d]. It should be an easy solution, but I still can't figure out.
function chunkArrayInGroups(arr, size) {
// Break it up.
var newarr=[];
var amount=0;
if(arr.length%2===0)
{
amount=arr.length/size;
}
else
amount=(arr.length/size)+1;
console.log(amount);
for(i=0;i<amount;i++)
{
newarr[i]=[];
}
console.log(newarr);
for(z=0;z<arr.length;z=z+size)
{
for(x=0;x<size;x++)
{
newarr[x].push(arr[z+x]);
}
}
console.log(newarr);
}
chunkArrayInGroups(["a", "b", "c", "d"], 2);
Also, if you see bad syntax please correct me, I'm used to writing Java. Thank you!

Run over all the items in the array, and whenever the index % size is 0, add another sub array, then push the item to the last sub array.
function chunkArrayInGroups(arr, size) {
var chunks = [];
for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if(i % size === 0) {
chunks.push([]);
}
chunks[chunks.length - 1].push(arr[i]);
}
return chunks;
}
console.log('Size 2', JSON.stringify(chunkArrayInGroups(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 2)));
console.log('Size 3', JSON.stringify(chunkArrayInGroups(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 3)));
console.log('Size 4', JSON.stringify(chunkArrayInGroups(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 4)));
console.log('Size 6', JSON.stringify(chunkArrayInGroups(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 6)));

You could use the Array.slice method together with the loop to chunk an array:
function chunkArrayInGroups(arr, size) {
let i,j,res = [];
for (i=0,j=arr.length; i<j; i+=size) {
res.push(arr.slice(i,i+size));
}
return res;
}
console.log(chunkArrayInGroups(["a", "b", "c", "d"], 2));

The issue comes from newarr[x].push(arr[z+x]);.
Each time the second loop runs, it adds 1 letter to the first array inside newarr and 1 letter to the second array inside newarr.
This is because x inside the loop (in the case of size = 2), starts as 0 (the first array) and then becomes 1 (the second array).
To fix this problem:
newarr[x].push(arr[z+x]); should be changed to newarr[z/size].push(arr[z+x]);

This would be my solution;
function chunkArrayInGroups(a,n){
return n > 0 ? n <= a.length ? a.reduce((r,e,i) => (r[Math.floor(n*i/a.length)].push(e),r), Array(n).fill().map(_ => [])) : a : a;
}
var a = ["a", "b", "c", "d","e"],
n = 3;
result = chunkArrayInGroups(a,n);
console.log(result);

Beside the given answers, you could use another approach with Array#reduce and check if you need a new array for a new chunk.
function chunkArrayInGroups(array, size) {
return array.reduce(function(r, a, i, aa) {
i % Math.ceil(aa.length / size) || r.push([]);
r[r.length - 1].push(a);
return r;
}, []);
}
console.log(chunkArrayInGroups(["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"], 3));

How to merge two arrays in JavaScript and keep their order

I had an whiteboard task that stumped me in the interview, however I have written a solution and wondered if anyone has improvements on it as I'm iterating which the interviewer said not to. The two arrays must be merged with the order being array1[0], array2[0], array1[1], array2[1]... (see expectedResult) etc
const options = [[1, 12, 5], ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]]
const expectedResult = [1, "a", 12, "b", 5, "c", "d", "e"]
function mergeArrays(first, second) {
let returnArray = []
first.forEach((value, key) => {
returnArray.push(value)
if (second[key]) returnArray.push(second[key])
if (!first[key + 1] && second[key + 1]) {
returnArray.push(
...second.slice(key + 1, second.length)
)
}
})
return returnArray
}
const result = mergeArrays(options[0], options[1])
console.log(result.toString() === expectedResult.toString(), result)

With reduce (as an alternative to the classical for/while loop control structures)
const options = [[1, 12, 5], ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]];
const expectedResult = [1, "a", 12, "b", 5, "c", "d", "e"]
// a is the accumulator
// cV, cI are resp. current value and current index
result = options[0].reduce(function (a, cV, cI) {
return a.concat([cV,options[1][cI]]);
},[]);
result = result.concat(options[1].splice(options[0].length));
console.log(result.toString() === expectedResult.toString(), result)
At each step two elements are added to the accumulator array a using concat.

I go the classic way, with a while loop, because it minimize the checks inside of the loop and appends without another check just the rest of one of the arrays.
function mergeArrays(first, second) {
var min = Math.min(first.length, second.length),
i = 0,
result = [];
while (i < min) {
result.push(first[i], second[i]);
++i;
}
return result.concat(first.slice(min), second.slice(min));
}
const options = [[1, 12, 5], ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]];
console.log(mergeArrays(...options));
.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

Instead of using value in if conditions , check for length of array.
Problems I see in code are at conditions
if (second[key]) returnArray.push(second[key])
// will not run if second[key] is 0,null,undefined.
if (!first[key + 1] && second[key + 1])
// will produce unwanted result if value reference is 0,null,undefined.
so instead, check for length would produce better result
So the condition
if (second[key]) returnArray.push(second[key])
can be changed into
if( second.length > key) returnArray.push(second[key])

You can use a recursive zipping function, using spread to feed an array of two into it as its parameters:
var z = (a, b) => a.length ? [a[0], ...z(b, a.slice(1))] : b;
var options =
[
[1, 12, 5],
["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]
];
var expectedResult = z(...options);
console.log(JSON.stringify(expectedResult));
or for any number of array inputs:
var z = (a = [], ...b) =>
b.length ? a.length ? [a[0], ...z(...b, a.slice(1))] : z(...b) : a;
var options =
[
[1, 2],
'♦♡♣♤♥♢',
['A', 'B', 'C'],
['😊', '😔', '😠'],
[null, NaN, undefined]
];
var expectedResult = z(...options);
var stringify = (o) => JSON.stringify(o, (k, v) => v === undefined ? '__undefined__' : v !== v ? '__NaN__' : v).replace(/"__undefined__"/g, 'undefined').replace(/"__NaN__"/g, 'NaN');
console.log(stringify(expectedResult));

How can I create every combination possible for the contents of two arrays?

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!