Develop Reference

Comparing equality of elements in two arrays

I have an assignment where I am supposed to check two arrays (unsorted) with integers, to see if
They have the same length
The first element contains integers and the second has the same values squared, in any order
For example:
test([5,4,1], [1,16,25]) // would return true ..
What I've done so far is first sort the two input arrays, and then compare the length. Once we confirm the length is the same we iterate through each value to make sure they're equal. Keep in mind I haven't gotten to comparing the values to their squared counterpart yet, because my loop is not giving me expected results. Here is the code:
function test(arr1, arr2){
// sort arrays
const arr1Sort = arr1.sort(),
arr2Sort = arr2.sort();
// compare length and then compare values
if(arr1Sort.length === arr2Sort.length) {
for(let i = 0; i < arr1Sort.length; i++) {
if(arr1Sort[i] === arr2Sort[i]) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
}
}
console.log(test([1,2,3], [1,5,4])); returns true but the array values are different?!

Inside the for, no matter whether the if or else is fulfilled, the function will immediately return true or false on the first iteration - it'll never get past index 0. To start with, return true only after the loop has concluded, and return false if arr1Sort[i] ** 2 !== arr2Sort[i] (to check if the first squared equals the second).
Also, when sorting, make sure to use a callback function to compare each item's difference, because otherwise, .sort will sort lexiographically (eg, [1, 11, 2]):
function comp(arr1, arr2){
// sort arrays
const sortCb = (a, b) => a - b;
const arr1Sort = arr1.sort(sortCb),
arr2Sort = arr2.sort(sortCb);
// compare length and then compare values
if(arr1Sort.length !== arr2Sort.length) {
return false;
}
for(let i = 0; i < arr1Sort.length; i++) {
if(arr1Sort[i] ** 2 !== arr2Sort[i]) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
console.log(comp([1,2,3], [1,5,4]));
console.log(comp([5,4,1], [1,16,25]));
You can decrease the computational complexity to O(N) instead of O(N log N) by turning arr2 into an object indexed by the squared number beforehand:
function comp(arr1, arr2){
if (arr1.length !== arr2.length) {
return false;
}
const arr2Obj = arr2.reduce((a, num) => {
a[num] = (a[num] || 0) + 1;
return a;
}, {});
for (let i = 0; i < arr1.length; i++) {
const sq = arr1[i] ** 2;
if (!arr2Obj[sq]) {
return false;
}
arr2Obj[sq]--;
}
return true;
}
console.log(comp([1,2,3], [1,5,4]));
console.log(comp([5,4,1], [1,16,25]));
(if duplicates weren't permitted, this would be a lot easier with a Set instead, but they are, unfortunately)

This should work, no mater the data to compare:
function similar(needle, haystack, exact){
if(needle === haystack){
return true;
}
if(needle instanceof Date && haystack instanceof Date){
return needle.getTime() === haystack.getTime();
}
if(!needle || !haystack || (typeof needle !== 'object' && typeof haystack !== 'object')){
return needle === haystack;
}
if(needle === null || needle === undefined || haystack === null || haystack === undefined || needle.prototype !== haystack.prototype){
return false;
}
var keys = Object.keys(needle);
if(exact && keys.length !== Object.keys(haystack).length){
return false;
}
return keys.every(function(k){
return similar(needle[k], haystack[k]);
});
}
console.log(similar(['a', {cool:'stuff', yes:1}, 7], ['a', {cool:'stuff', yes:1}, 7], true));
// not exact
console.log(similar(['a', {cool:'stuff', yes:1}, 7], ['a', {cool:'stuff', stuff:'more', yes:1}, 7, 'more stuff only at the end for numeric array']));

JavaScript: How to match out-of-order arrays

I'm trying to work out how to match arrays that share the same elements, but not necessarily in the same order.
For example, these two arrays share the same set of elements, even though they're in a different order.
Is there any way to determine whether two arrays contain the same elements?
var search1 = ["barry", "beth", "debbie"];
var search2 = ["beth", "barry", "debbie"];
if (search1 == search2) {
document.write("We've found a match!");
} else {
document.write("Nothing matches");
}
I've got a Codepen of this running at the moment over here: http://codepen.io/realph/pen/grblI

The problem with some of the other solutions is that they are of O(n²) complexity, if they're using a for loop inside of a for loop. That's slow! You don't need to sort either—also slow.
We can speed this up to O(2n) complexity1 by using a simple dictionary. This adds O(2n) storage, but that hardly matters.
JavaScript
var isEqual = function (arr1, arr2) {
if (arr1.length !== arr2.length) {
return false; // no point in wasting time if they are of different lengths
} else {
var holder = {}, i = 0, l = arr2.length;
// holder is our dictionary
arr1.forEach(function (d) {
holder[d] = true; // put each item in arr1 into the dictionary
})
for (; i < l; i++) { // run through the second array
if (!(arr2[i] in holder)) return false;
// if it's not in the dictionary, return false
}
return true; // otherwise, return true
}
}
Test Case
var arr1 = ["barry", "beth", "debbie"],
arr2 = ["beth", "barry", "debbie"];
console.log(isEqual(arr1,arr2));
// returns true
fiddle
Improvement
As Ahruss pointed out, the above function will return true for two arrays that are seemingly equal. For example, [1,1,2,3] and [1,2,2,3] would return true. To overcome this, simply use a counter in the dictionary. This works because !undefined and !0 both return true.
var isReallyEqual = function (arr1, arr2) {
if (arr1.length !== arr2.length) {
return false; // no point in wasting time if they are of different lengths
} else {
var holder = {}, i = 0, l = arr2.length;
// holder is our dictionary
arr1.forEach(function (d) {
holder[d] = (holder[d] || 0) + 1;
// checks whether holder[d] is in the dictionary: holder[d] || 0
// this basically forces a cast to 0 if holder[d] === undefined
// then increments the value
})
for (; i < l; i++) { // run through the second array
if (!holder[arr2[i]]) { // if it's not "in" the dictionary
return false; // return false
// this works because holder[arr2[i]] can be either
// undefined or 0 (or a number > 0)
// if it's not there at all, this will correctly return false
// if it's 0 and there should be another one
// (first array has the element twice, second array has it once)
// it will also return false
} else {
holder[arr2[i]] -= 1; // otherwise decrement the counter
}
}
return true;
// all good, so return true
}
}
Test Case
var arr1 = [1, 1, 2],
arr2 = [1, 2, 2];
isEqual(arr1, arr2); // returns true
isReallyEqual(arr1, arr2); // returns false;
1: It's really O(n+m) complexity, whereby n is the size of the first array and m of the second array. However, in theory, m === n, if the arrays are equal, or the difference is nominal as n -> ∞, so it can be said to be of O(2n) complexity. If you're feeling really pedantic, you can say it's of O(n), or linear, complexity.

you can use this function to compare two arrays
function getMatch(a, b) {
for ( var i = 0; i < a.length; i++ ) {
for ( var e = 0; e < b.length; e++ ) {
if ( a[i] === b[e] ){
return true;
}
}
}
}

Feed your arrays to the following function:
function isArrayEqual(firstArray, secondArray) {
if (firstArray === secondArray) return true;
if (firstArray == null || secondArray == null) return false;
if (firstArray.length != secondArray.length) return false;
// optional - sort the arrays
// firstArray.sort();
// secondArray.sort();
for (var i = 0; i < firstArray.length; ++i) {
if (firstArray[i] !== secondArray[i]) return false;
}
return true;
}
Now you may be thinking, can't I just say arrayOne.sort() and arrayTwo.sort() then compare if arrayOne == arrayTwo? The answer is no you can't in your case. While their contents may be the same, they're not the same object (comparison by reference).

You need to simply sort them, then compare them
function compareArrayItems(array1, array2){
array1 = array1.sort();
array2 = array2.sort();
return array1.equals(array2);
}
fiddle
You can use the equals function provided in How to compare arrays in JavaScript?

Sort them firstly. Secondly, if their length is different, then they're not a match.
After that, iterate one array and test a[i] with b[i], a being the first array, b the second.
var search1 = ["barry", "beth", "debbie"],
search2 = ["beth", "barry", "debbie"];
// If length are different, than we have no match.
if ((search1.length != search2.length) || (search1 == null || search2 == null))
document.write("Nothing matches");
var a = search1.sort(),
b = search2.sort(),
areEqual = true;
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
// if any two values from the two arrays are different, than we have no match.
if (a[i] != b[i]) {
areEqual = false;
break; // no need to continue
}
}
document.write(areEqual ? "We've found a match!" : "Nothing matches");

JavaScript anagram comparison

I'm trying to compare two strings to see if they are anagrams.
My problem is that I'm only comparing the first letter in each string. For example, "Mary" and "Army" will return true but unfortunately so will "Mary" and Arms."
How can I compare each letter of both strings before returning true/false?
Here's a jsbin demo (click the "Console" tab to see the results"):
http://jsbin.com/hasofodi/1/edit
function compare (a, b) {
y = a.split("").sort();
z = b.split("").sort();
for (i=0; i<y.length; i++) {
if(y.length===z.length) {
if (y[i]===z[i]){
console.log(a + " and " + b + " are anagrams!");
break;
}
else {
console.log(a + " and " + b + " are not anagrams.");
break;
}
}
else {
console.log(a + " has a different amount of letters than " + b);
}
break;
}
}
compare("mary", "arms");

Instead of comparing letter by letter, after sorting you can join the arrays to strings again, and let the browser do the comparison:
function compare (a, b) {
var y = a.split("").sort().join(""),
z = b.split("").sort().join("");
console.log(z === y
? a + " and " + b + " are anagrams!"
: a + " and " + b + " are not anagrams."
);
}

If you want to write a function, without using inbuilt one, Check the below solution.
function isAnagram(str1, str2) {
if(str1 === str2) {
return true;
}
let srt1Length = str1.length;
let srt2Length = str2.length;
if(srt1Length !== srt2Length) {
return false;
}
var counts = {};
for(let i = 0; i < srt1Length; i++) {
let index = str1.charCodeAt(i)-97;
counts[index] = (counts[index] || 0) + 1;
}
for(let j = 0; j < srt2Length; j++) {
let index = str2.charCodeAt(j)-97;
if (!counts[index]) {
return false;
}
counts[index]--;
}
return true;
}

This considers case sensitivity and removes white spaces AND ignore all non-alphanumeric characters
function compare(a,b) {
var c = a.replace(/\W+/g, '').toLowerCase().split("").sort().join("");
var d = b.replace(/\W+/g, '').toLowerCase().split("").sort().join("");
return (c ===d) ? "Anagram":"Not anagram";
}

Quick one-liner solution with javascript functions - toLowerCase(), split(), sort() and join():
Convert input string to lowercase
Make array of the string with split()
Sort the array alphabetically
Now join the sorted array into a string using join()
Do the above steps to both strings and if after sorting strings are the same then it will be anargam.
// Return true if two strings are anagram else return false
function Compare(str1, str2){
if (str1.length !== str2.length) {
return false
}
return str1.toLowerCase().split("").sort().join("") === str2.toLowerCase().split("").sort().join("")
}
console.log(Compare("Listen", "Silent")) //true
console.log(Compare("Mary", "arms")) //false

No need for sorting, splitting, or joining. The following two options are efficient ways to go:
//using char array for fast lookups
const Anagrams1 = (str1 = '', str2 = '') => {
if (str1.length !== str2.length) {
return false;
}
if (str1 === str2) {
return true;
}
const charCount = [];
let startIndex = str1.charCodeAt(0);
for (let i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
const charInt1 = str1.charCodeAt(i);
const charInt2 = str2.charCodeAt(i);
startIndex = Math.min(charInt1, charInt2);
charCount[charInt1] = (charCount[charInt1] || 0) + 1;
charCount[charInt2] = (charCount[charInt2] || 0) - 1;
}
while (charCount.length >= startIndex) {
if (charCount.pop()) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
console.log(Anagrams1('afc','acf'))//true
console.log(Anagrams1('baaa','bbaa'))//false
console.log(Anagrams1('banana','bananas'))//false
console.log(Anagrams1('',' '))//false
console.log(Anagrams1(9,'hey'))//false
//using {} for fast lookups
function Anagrams(str1 = '', str2 = '') {
if (str1.length !== str2.length) {
return false;
}
if (str1 === str2) {
return true;
}
const lookup = {};
for (let i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
const char1 = str1[i];
const char2 = str2[i];
const remainingChars = str1.length - (i + 1);
lookup[char1] = (lookup[char1] || 0) + 1;
lookup[char2] = (lookup[char2] || 0) - 1;
if (lookup[char1] > remainingChars || lookup[char2] > remainingChars) {
return false;
}
}
for (let i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
if (lookup[str1[i]] !== 0 || lookup[str2[i]] !== 0) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
console.log(Anagrams('abc', 'cba'));//true
console.log(Anagrams('abcc', 'cbaa')); //false
console.log(Anagrams('abc', 'cde')); //false
console.log(Anagrams('aaaaaaaabbbbbb','bbbbbbbbbaaaaa'));//false
console.log(Anagrams('banana', 'ananab'));//true

Cleanest and most efficient solution for me
function compare(word1, word2) {
const { length } = word1
if (length !== word2.length) {
return false
}
const charCounts = {}
for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
const char1 = word1[i]
const char2 = word2[i]
charCounts[char1] = (charCounts[char1] || 0) + 1
charCounts[char2] = (charCounts[char2] || 0) - 1
}
for (const char in charCounts) {
if (charCounts[char]) {
return false
}
}
return true
}

I modified your function to work.
It will loop through each letter of both words UNTIL a letter doesn't match (then it knows that they AREN'T anagrams).
It will only work for words that have the same number of letters and that are perfect anagrams.
function compare (a, b) {
y = a.split("").sort();
z = b.split("").sort();
areAnagrams = true;
for (i=0; i<y.length && areAnagrams; i++) {
console.log(i);
if(y.length===z.length) {
if (y[i]===z[i]){
// good for now
console.log('up to now it matches');
} else {
// a letter differs
console.log('a letter differs');
areAnagrams = false;
}
}
else {
console.log(a + " has a different amount of letters than " + b);
areAnagrams = false;
}
}
if (areAnagrams) {
console.log('They ARE anagrams');
} else {
console.log('They are NOT anagrams');
}
return areAnagrams;
}
compare("mary", "arms");

A more modern solution without sorting.
function(s, t) {
if(s === t) return true
if(s.length !== t.length) return false
let count = {}
for(let letter of s)
count[letter] = (count[letter] || 0) + 1
for(let letter of t) {
if(!count[letter]) return false
else --count[letter]
}
return true;
}

function validAnagramOrNot(a, b) {
if (a.length !== b.length)
return false;
const lookup = {};
for (let i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
let character = a[i];
lookup[character] = (lookup[character] || 0) + 1;
}
for (let i = 0; i < b.length; i++) {
let character = b[i];
if (!lookup[character]) {
return false;
} else {
lookup[character]--;
}
}
return true;
}
validAnagramOrNot("a", "b"); // false
validAnagramOrNot("aza", "zaa"); //true

Here's my contribution, I had to do this exercise for a class! I'm finally understanding how JS works, and as I was able to came up with a solution (it's not - by far - the best one, but it's ok!) I'm very happy I can share this one here, too! (although there are plenty solutions here already, but whatever :P )
function isAnagram(string1, string2) {
// first check: if the lenghts are different, not an anagram
if (string1.length != string2.length)
return false
else {
// it doesn't matter if the letters are capitalized,
// so the toLowerCase method ensures that...
string1 = string1.toLowerCase()
string2 = string2.toLowerCase()
// for each letter in the string (I could've used for each :P)
for (let i = 0; i < string1.length; i++) {
// check, for each char in string2, if they are NOT somewhere at string1
if (!string1.includes(string2.charAt(i))) {
return false
}
else {
// if all the chars are covered
// and the condition is the opposite of the previous if
if (i == (string1.length - 1))
return true
}
}
}
}

First of all, you can do the length check before the for loop, no need to do it for each character...
Also, "break" breaks the whole for loop. If you use "continue" instead of "break", it skips the current step.
That is why only the first letters are compared, after the first one it quits the for loop.
I hope this helps you.

function compare (a, b) {
y = a.split("").sort();
z = b.split("").sort();
if(y.length==z.length) {
for (i=0; i<y.length; i++) {
if (y[i]!==z[i]){
console.log(a + " and " + b + " are not anagrams!");
return false;
}
}
return true;
} else { return false;}}
compare("mary", "arms");

Make the function return false if the length between words differ and if it finds a character between the words that doesn't match.
// check if two strings are anagrams
var areAnagrams = function(a, b) {
// if length is not the same the words can't be anagrams
if (a.length != b.length) return false;
// make words comparable
a = a.split("").sort().join("");
b = b.split("").sort().join("");
// check if each character match before proceeding
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
if ((a.charAt(i)) != (b.charAt(i))) {
return false;
}
}
// all characters match!
return true;
};
It is specially effective when one is iterating through a big dictionary array, as it compares the first letter of each "normalised" word before proceeding to compare the second letter - and so on. If one letter doesn't match, it jumps to the next word, saving a lot of time.
In a dictionary with 1140 words (not all anagrams), the whole check was done 70% faster than if using the method in the currently accepted answer.

an anagram with modern javascript that can be use in nodejs. This will take into consideration empty strings, whitespace and case-sensitivity. Basically takes an array or a single string as input. It relies on sorting the input string and then looping over the list of words and doing the same and then comparing the strings to each other. It's very efficient. A more efficient solution may be to create a trie data structure and then traversing each string in the list. looping over the two words to compare strings is slower than using the built-in string equality check.
The function does not allow the same word as the input to be considered an anagram, as it is not an anagram. ;) useful edge-case.
const input = 'alerting';
const list1 = 'triangle';
const list2 = ['', ' ', 'alerting', 'buster', 'integral', 'relating', 'no', 'fellas', 'triangle', 'chucking'];
const isAnagram = ((input, list) => {
if (typeof list === 'string') {
list = [list];
}
const anagrams = [];
const sortedInput = sortWord(input).toLowerCase();
const inputLength = sortedInput.length;
list.forEach((element, i) => {
if ( inputLength === element.length && input !== element ) {
const sortedElement = sortWord(element).toLowerCase();
if ( sortedInput === sortedElement) {
anagrams.push(element);
}
}
});
return anagrams;
})
const sortWord = ((word) => {
return word.split('').sort().join('');
});
console.log(`anagrams for ${input} are: ${isAnagram(input, list1)}.`);
console.log(`anagrams for ${input} are: ${isAnagram(input, list2)}.`);

Here is a simple algorithm:
1. Remove all unnecessary characters
2. make objects of each character
3. check to see if object length matches and character count matches - then return true
const stripChar = (str) =>
{
return str.replace(/[\W]/g,'').toLowerCase();
}
const charMap = str => {
let MAP = {};
for (let char of stripChar(str)) {
!MAP[char] ? (MAP[char] = 1) : MAP[char]++;
}
return MAP;
};
const anagram = (str1, str2) => {
if(Object.keys(charMap(str1)).length!==Object.keys(charMap(str2)).length) return false;
for(let char in charMap(str1))
{
if(charMap(str1)[char]!==charMap(str2)[char]) return false;
}
return true;
};
console.log(anagram("rail safety","!f%airy tales"));

I think this is quite easy and simple.
function checkAnagrams(str1, str2){
var newstr1 = str1.toLowerCase().split('').sort().join();
var newstr2 = str2.toLowerCase().split('').sort().join();
if(newstr1 == newstr2){
console.log("String is Anagrams");
}
else{
console.log("String is Not Anagrams");
}
}
checkAnagrams("Hello", "lolHe");
checkAnagrams("Indian", "nIndisn");

//The best code so far that checks, white space, non alphabets
//characters
//without sorting
function anagram(stringOne,stringTwo){
var newStringOne = ""
var newStringTwo = ''
for(var i=0; i<stringTwo.length; i++){
if(stringTwo[i]!= ' ' && isNaN(stringTwo[i]) == true){
newStringTwo = newStringTwo+stringTwo[i]
}
}
for(var i=0; i<stringOne.length; i++){
if(newStringTwo.toLowerCase().includes(stringOne[i].toLowerCase())){
newStringOne=newStringOne+stringOne[i].toLowerCase()
}
}
console.log(newStringOne.length, newStringTwo.length)
if(newStringOne.length==newStringTwo.length){
console.log("Anagram is === to TRUE")
}
else{console.log("Anagram is === to FALSE")}
}
anagram('ddffTTh####$', '#dfT9t#D##H$F')

function anagrams(str1,str2){
//spliting string into array
let arr1 = str1.split("");
let arr2 = str2.split("");
//verifying array lengths
if(arr1.length !== arr2.length){
return false;
}
//creating objects
let frqcounter1={};
let frqcounter2 ={};
// looping through array elements and keeping count
for(let val of arr1){
frqcounter1[val] =(frqcounter1[val] || 0) + 1;
}
for(let val of arr2){
frqcounter2[val] =(frqcounter2[val] || 0) + 1;
}
console.log(frqcounter1);
console.log(frqcounter2);
//loop for every key in first object
for(let key in frqcounter1){
//if second object does not contain same frq count
if(frqcounter2[key] !== frqcounter1[key]){
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
anagrams('anagrams','nagramas');

The fastest Algorithm
const isAnagram = (str1, str2) => {
if (str1.length !== str2.length) {
return false
}
const obj = {}
for (let i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
const letter = str1[i]
obj[letter] ? obj[letter] += 1 : obj[letter] = 1
}
for (let i = 0; i < str2.length; i++) {
const letter = str2[i]
if (!obj[letter]) {
return false
}
else {
obj[letter] -= 1
}
}
return true
}
console.log(isAnagram('lalalalalalalalala', 'laalallalalalalala'))
console.time('1')
isAnagram('lalalalalalalalala', 'laalallalalalalala') // about 0.050ms
console.timeEnd('1')

const anagram = (strA, strB) => {
const buildAnagram = (str) => {
const charObj = {};
for(let char of str.replace(/[^\w]/g).toLowerCase()) {
charObj[char] = charObj[char] + 1 || 1;
}
return charObj;
};
const strObjAnagramA = buildAnagram(strA);
const strObjAnagramB = buildAnagram(strB);
if(Object.keys(strObjAnagramA).length !== Object.keys(strObjAnagramB).length) {
console.log(strA + ' and ' + strB + ' is not an anagram');
return false;
}
for(let char in strObjAnagramA) {
if(strObjAnagramA[char] !== strObjAnagramB[char]) {
console.log(strA + ' and ' + strB + ' is not an anagram');
return false;
}
}
return true; } //console.log(anagram('Mary','Arms')); - false

Similar approach with filter function
const str1 = 'triangde'
const str2 = 'integral'
const st1 = str1.split('')
const st2 = str2.split('')
const item = st1.filter((v)=>!st2.includes(v))
const result = item.length === 0 ? 'Anagram' : 'Not anagram' + ' Difference - ' + item;
console.log(result)

Javascript array with associative array difference

Is there a way to return the difference between two arrays in JavaScript?
I can not use indexOf in this case.
For example:
var a1 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"}];
var a2 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"},{"c":"C"}];
// need [{"c":"C"}]
Please advise.

One object can never be the same as another object even if they have the same content. They would still be different instances of Objects.
That means you have to compare keys and values to check that they match, or in this case, don't match.
var a1 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"}];
var a2 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"},{"c":"C"}];
var a3 = a2.filter(function(o) {
return Object.keys(o).some(function(k) {
return a1.every(function(o2) {
return !(k in o2) || (o2[k] != o[k]);
});
});
});
FIDDLE

As I mentioned in my comment, objects are only equal if they refer to the same instance. Therefore, any built-in system will not do, least of all == and ===. So, first you must define your own comparison function.
Let's say that two objects are equal if they contain the same keys with the same values.
function areObjectsEqual(a,b) {
function helper(a,b) {
var k;
for( k in a) {
if( a.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
if( !b.hasOwnProperty(k)) return false;
if( typeof a[k] != typeof b[k]) return false;
if( typeof a[k] == "object") {
if( !areObjectsEqual(a[k],b[k])) return false;
// the above line allows handling of nested objects
}
else {
if( a[k] != b[k]) return false;
// this comparison is technically strict
// because we already checked typeof earlier
}
}
}
}
return helper(a,b) && helper(b,a);
}
Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can compare our functions.
function array_diff(a,b) {
var result = [], l = a.length, i, m = b.length, j;
outer:
for( i=0; i<l; i++) {
for( j=0; j<m; j++) {
if( typeof a[i] != typeof b[j]) continue;
if( typeof a[i] == "object") {
if( !areObjectsEqual(a[i],b[j])) continue;
}
else {
if( a[i] != b[j]) continue;
}
// if we got to here, it's a match!
// ... so actually we want to skip over the result :p
continue outer;
}
// okay, if we get HERE then there was no match,
// because we skipped the "continue outer"
result.push(a[i]);
}
return result;
}
And there you go!

Easy and simple way to achieve your goal
var a1 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"}];
var a2 = [{"a":"A"},{"c":"C"},{"b":"B"}];
var max = (a1.length > a2.length) ? a1 : a2;
var min = (a1.length > a2.length) ? a2 : a1;
var newArray = [];
for ( var i = 0; i < max.length; i++ ) { // saving elements into string
max[i] = JSON.stringify(max[i]);
if ( typeof min[i] !== undefined ) {
min[i] = JSON.stringify(min[i]);
}
}
for ( var i = 0; i < max.length; i++ ) { // checking values uniqueness
if ( min.indexOf(max[i]) === -1 ) {
newArray.push(max[i]);
}
}
// if you need new Array's elements back in object do following iteration
for ( var i in newArray ) { // loop recreate results array's elements into object again
newArray[i] = JSON.parse(newArray[i]);
}
console.log(newArray); // result : [Object { c="C"}]
JSFiddle

var a1 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"}];
var a2 = [{"a":"A"},{"b":"B"},{"c":"C"}];
var obj = {}, result = [];
function updateObjectCount(currentItem) {
var keys, key;
for (key in currentItem) {
if (currentItem.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
keys = key;
break;
}
}
obj[key] = obj[key] || {};
obj[key][currentItem[key]] = (obj[key][currentItem[key]] || 0) + 1;
}
a1.forEach(updateObjectCount);
a2.forEach(updateObjectCount);
for (var key1 in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty((key1))) {
for (var key2 in obj[key1]) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty((key1))) {
if (obj[key1][key2] === 1) {
var temp = {};
temp[key1] = key2;
result.push(temp)
}
}
}
}
}
console.log(result);
# [ { c: 'C' } ]

Check if each item in an array is identical in JavaScript

I need to test whether each item in an array is identical to each other. For example:
var list = ["l","r","b"]
Should evaluate as false, because each item is not identical. On the other hand this:
var list = ["b", "b", "b"]
Should evaluate as true because they are all identical. What would be the most efficient (in speed/resources) way of achieving this?

In ES5, you could do:
arr.every(function(v, i, a) {
// first item: nothing to compare with (and, single element arrays should return true)
// otherwise: compare current value to previous value
return i === 0 || v === a[i - 1];
});
.every does short-circuit as well.

function identical(array) {
for(var i = 0; i < array.length - 1; i++) {
if(array[i] !== array[i+1]) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}

You could always do a new Set, and check the length.
var set1 = [...new Set(list)].length === 1;

The one line answer is:
arr.every((val, ind, arr) => val === arr[0]);
You can look into Array.every for more details.
Note:
Array.every is available ES5 onwards.
This method returns true for any condition put on an empty array.
Syntax: arr.every(callback[, thisArg]) or array.every(function(currentValue, index, arr), thisValue)
It does not change the original array
The execution of every() is short-circuited. As soon as every() finds an array element that doesn't match the predicate, it immediately returns false and doesn't iterate over the remaining elements

arr.every(i=>i==arr[0]) //will return true if all items in arr are identical

function matchList(list) {
var listItem = list[0];
for (index in list) {
if(list[index] != listItem {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}

var list = ["b", "b", "b"];
var checkItem = list[0];
var isSame = true;
for (var i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (list[i] != checkItem) {
isSame = false;
break;
}
}
return isSame;

function identical(array) {
// a variable holding standard value
//against this standard value we are examining the array
var standard = array[1];
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
if (array[i] !== standard) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
identical([1, 1, 1, 1, 1]); //return true
identical(['a', 'a', 'a']); //return true
identical(['a', 'a', 'b'])
function identical(array) {
// a variable holding standard value
//against this standard value we are examining the array
var standard = array[1];
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
if (array[i] !== standard) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
identical([1, 1, 1, 1, 1]); //return true
identical(['a', 'a', 'a']); //return true
identical(['a', 'a', 'b'])

My suggestion would be to remove duplicates (check out Easiest way to find duplicate values in a JavaScript array), and then check to see if the length == 1. That would mean that all items were the same.

function allEqual(list)
{
if(list.length == 0 || list.length == 1)
{
return true;
}
for (index in list) {
if(list[index] != list[index+1] {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}