Develop Reference

Remove Strings, Keep Numbers In Array With JavaScript

Other articles talk about removing strings from an array based on a search term.
But I'm trying to indentify which elements are strings and which elements are numbers in an array, and then remove all strings to return a new array.
function filter_list(l) {
let newArray = [];
for (let i = 0; i < l.length; i ++) {
if (i !== "^[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*$") {
newArray = newArray + i;
}
}
return newArray;
}
This is returning 0123.
Why is it not returning an array?
Why is if (i !== "^[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*$") not working? How else can I check for when an element is a string (something in quotes) within the array?
https://www.codewars.com/kata/list-filtering/train/javascript
Thanks

You can is typeof keyword. and filter(). I have tested the code its passing all tests in codewars.
Using ES6 Arrow Function
function filter_list(l) {
return l.filter(x => typeof x === "number");
}
console.log(filter_list([1,2,'a','b']))
Without Arrow Function
function filter_list(l) {
return l.filter(function(x){
return typeof x === "number"
});
}
console.log(filter_list([1,2,'a','b']))
Using Simple Loops
function filter_list(l) {
let newArr = [];
for(let i = 0;i<l.length;i++){
if(typeof l[i] === "number") newArr.push(l[i]);
}
return newArr
}
console.log(filter_list([1,2,'a','b']))

Regex is not good way to parse such table. Try isNaN
console.log(
[1,2,3,4,5, 'a', 'b', 1, 3].filter(item => !isNaN(item) ? item : '')
)
If you want less hacky way try
function filter_list(l) {
// l is very bad name, because look similar to i
let newArray = [];
for (let i = 0; i < l.length; i ++) {
!isNaN(l[i]) ? newArray.push(l[i]) : ''
}
return newArray;
}
or even
for (let i = 0; i < l.length; i ++) {
!isNaN(l[i]) ? newArray[i] = l[i] : ''
}
Hovewer, this task can be done with regexes, but I cannot recommend this solution.
[1,2,3,4,5, 'a', 'b', 1, 3].join(' ').replace(/\D/gm, '').split('')

var numberArray: any[];
numberArray.filter(Number)
Using this you can filter only numbers in an array and then can performe what you want.

function filter_list(l) {
return l.filter(x => typeof x === "number");
}
console.log(filter_list([1,2,'a','b']))

I worked out a simple answer that will work as well using the same logic required to solve your problem. I used it on an example where you have an array of temperature values, and you want to remove all the values which are strings from the existing array, then populate the new empty array.You can use typeof operator to identify the type of value in the temperatures array at position i which is the index of that array element. If the type of that value is not a string then push the value of the temperatures array at the current index position to the new array.
const temperatures = [3, -2, -6, -1, 'error', 9, 13, 17, 15, 14, 9, 5];
const cleanTemperatures = [];
for (let i = 0; i < temperatures.length; i++) {
if (typeof temperatures[i] !== 'string') {
cleanTemperatures.push(temperatures[i]);
}
}

Remove elements from array by type of element

I have an array and I want to remove all the string elements from it.
This is what I have so far. The result is not what I want since it returns only "bicycle"
Also, I am doing this in Test Complete so I need to have a main function that logs the result.
function ex06(){
var mailBox = "mailbox";
var twenty = 20;
var isItRaining = true;
var goat = "";
var stringsArray = ["bicycle", "pocket", 3, mailBox, twenty, isItRaining, goat];
var result = removeStrings();
Log.Message("stringsArray looks like this after the removal of all the string elements: " + result);
function removeStrings(){
var i;
var x
for(i = 0; i < stringsArray.length; i++){
if (typeof(stringsArray[i]) === 'string'){
x = stringsArray.splice(i, 1);
return x;
}
}
}
}

Version 1, with Array#filter
var a = [1, 2, "3", "4", true];
a = a.filter(function (e) {
return typeof e !== 'string';
});
document.write('<pre>' + JSON.stringify(a, 0, 4) + '</pre>');
Version 2, with Array#splice and running backwards.
var a = [1, 2, "3", "4", true],
i = a.length;
while (i--) {
if (typeof a[i] === 'string') {
a.splice(i, 1);
}
}
document.write('<pre>' + JSON.stringify(a, 0, 4) + '</pre>');

The Array.prototype.filter method is what you need:
var stringsArray = ["bicycle", "pocket", 3, mailBox, twenty, isItRaining, goat];
var result = stringsArray.filter(function(element) {
return typeof element !== 'string';
});

you need to reduce the counter variable and check the original array
try this simple example
var a = [1,2,"3", "4", true];
for( var counter = 0; counter < a.length; counter++)
{
if ( (typeof a[ counter ] ) == "string" )
{
a.splice(counter,1); counter--;
}
}
console.log(a); //output [1, 2, true]

try this code:
function ex06(){
var mailBox = "mailbox";
var twenty = 20;
var isItRaining = true;
var goat = "";
var stringsArray = ["bicycle", "pocket", 3, mailBox, twenty, isItRaining, goat];
var result = removeStrings();
Log.Message("stringsArray looks like this after the removal of all the string elements: " + result);
function removeStrings(){
var newarray = [];
var i;
var x
for(i = 0; i < stringsArray.length; i++){
if (typeof(stringsArray[i]) !== 'string'){
newarray.push(stringsArray[i]);
}
}
return newarray
}
}

JavaScript offers native methods to filter arrays, so that you can remove string elements more easily: Array.prototype.filter can make the process a lot easier (and prevents strange behaviours when using splice inside a loop).
function ex06(){
var mailBox = "mailbox";
var twenty = 20;
var isItRaining = true;
var goat = "";
var stringsArray = ["bicycle", "pocket", 3, mailBox, twenty, isItRaining, goat];
var result = removeStrings(stringsArray);
Log.Message("stringsArray looks like this after the removal of all the string elements: " + result);
function removeStrings(arrayWithString){
return arrayWithString.filter(function(item) {
return typeof item !== 'string'; // returns only items which are not strings
});
}
}
A small piece of advice: Pass in the array into your function instead of referencing it from the parent scope. This way you have a pure, reusable function (and no strange side effects you might not want).

I assume this is an exercise, and that's why you're not using Array#filter.
The problem is that you have your return x inside your for loop, so you return the first string you find.
You have at least three options:
Don't return anything, since removeStrings is modifying the original array. That one's easy: Just remove the return x; line.
Don't modify the original array; instead, create and return a new array with the strings left out. In that case, you'd start with x = [] before the loop, remove the splice call, and instead push any non-string onto x.
Modify the original array, and create and return a new array containing the strings you've removed. In that case, you'd remove return x from inside the loop, have x = [] before the loop, and push the entries you remove onto x. Then return x at the end.
In any of the places where you're modifying the original, note gurvinder372's point that when you remove an entry, you need to not increase the index counter, as you'll end up skipping the next entry.
I wouldn't do it the way he suggests, though; when I'm looping through an array modifying it, for isn't what I reach for, I reach for while:
i = 0;
while (i < stringsArray.length) {
if (typeof stringsArray[i] === 'string'){
stringsArray.splice(i, 1);
// We leave `i` alone here, because we need to process
// the new `stringsArray[i]` on the next pass
} else {
// Didn't remove this entry, move past it
++i;
}
}
Side note: typeof isn't a function, it's an operator, there's no need to put its operand in ():if (typeof stringsArray[i] === 'string'){

Count unique elements in array without sorting

In JavaScript the following will find the number of elements in the array. Assuming there to be a minimum of one element in the array
arr = ["jam", "beef", "cream", "jam"]
arr.sort();
var count = 1;
var results = "";
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
{
if (arr[i] == arr[i+1])
{
count +=1;
}
else
{
results += arr[i] + " --> " + count + " times\n" ;
count=1;
}
}
Is it possible to do this without using sort() or without mutating the array in any way? I would imagine that the array would have to be re-created and then sort could be done on the newly created array, but I want to know what's the best way without sorting.
And yes, I'm an artist, not a programmer, your honour.

The fast way to do this is with a new Set() object.
Sets are awesome and we should use them more often. They are fast, and supported by Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and node.js.
— What is faster Set or Object? by Andrei Kashcha
The items in a Set will always be unique, as it only keeps one copy of each value you put in. Here's a function that uses this property:
function countUnique(iterable) {
return new Set(iterable).size;
}
console.log(countUnique('banana')); //=> 3
console.log(countUnique([5,6,5,6])); //=> 2
console.log(countUnique([window, document, window])); //=> 2
This can be used to count the items in any iterable (including an Array, String, TypedArray, and arguments object).

A quick way to do this is to copy the unique elements into an Object.
var counts = {};
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
counts[arr[i]] = 1 + (counts[arr[i]] || 0);
}
When this loop is complete the counts object will have the count of each distinct element of the array.

Why not something like:
var arr = ["jam", "beef", "cream", "jam"]
var uniqs = arr.reduce((acc, val) => {
acc[val] = acc[val] === undefined ? 1 : acc[val] += 1;
return acc;
}, {});
console.log(uniqs)
Pure Javascript, runs in O(n). Doesn't consume much space either unless your number of unique values equals number of elements (all the elements are unique).

Same as this solution, but less code.
let counts = {};
arr.forEach(el => counts[el] = 1 + (counts[el] || 0))

This expression gives you all the unique elements in the array without mutating it:
arr.filter(function(v,i) { return i==arr.lastIndexOf(v); })
You can chain it with this expression to build your string of results without sorting:
.forEach(function(v) {
results+=v+" --> " + arr.filter(function(w){return w==v;}).length + " times\n";
});
In the first case the filter takes only includes the last of each specific element; in the second case the filter includes all the elements of that type, and .length gives the count.

This answer is for Beginners. Try this method you can solve this problem easily. You can find a full lesson for reduce, filter, map functions from This link.
const user = [1, 2, 2, 4, 8, 3, 3, 6, 5, 4, 8, 8];
const output = user.reduce(function (acc, curr) {
if (acc[curr]) {
acc[curr] = ++acc[curr];
} else {
acc[curr] = 1;
}
return acc;
}, {});
console.log(output);

function reomveDuplicates(array){
var newarray = array.filter( (value, key)=>{
return array.indexOf(value) == key
});
console.log("newarray", newarray);
}
reomveDuplicates([1,2,5,2,1,8]);
Using hash Map with the time complexity O(n)
function reomveDuplicates(array){
var obj ={};
let res=[];
for( arg of array){
obj[arg] = true;
}
console.log(Object.keys(obj));
for(key in obj){
res.push(Number(key)); // Only if you want in Number
}
console.log(res);
}
reomveDuplicates([1,2,5,2,1,8]);

In a modern, extensible and easy-to-read approach, here's one using iter-ops library:
import {pipe, distinct, count} from 'iter-ops';
const arr = ['jam', 'beef', 'cream', 'jam'];
const count = pipe(arr, distinct(), count()).first;
console.log(count); //=> 3

function check(arr) {
var count = 0;
for (var ele of arr) {
if (typeof arr[ele] !== typeof (arr[ele+1])) {
count++;
} else {
("I don't know");
}
}
return count;
}

How to get unique values in an array [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Get all unique values in a JavaScript array (remove duplicates)
(91 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
How can I get a list of unique values in an array? Do I always have to use a second array or is there something similar to java's hashmap in JavaScript?
I am going to be using JavaScript and jQuery only. No additional libraries can be used.

Here's a much cleaner solution for ES6 that I see isn't included here. It uses the Set and the spread operator: ...
var a = [1, 1, 2];
[... new Set(a)]
Which returns [1, 2]

Or for those looking for a one-liner (simple and functional) compatible with current browsers:
let a = ["1", "1", "2", "3", "3", "1"];
let unique = a.filter((item, i, ar) => ar.indexOf(item) === i);
console.log(unique);
Update 2021
I would recommend checking out Charles Clayton's answer, as of recent changes to JS there are even more concise ways to do this.
Update 18-04-2017
It appears as though 'Array.prototype.includes' now has widespread support in the latest versions of the mainline browsers (compatibility)
Update 29-07-2015:
There are plans in the works for browsers to support a standardized 'Array.prototype.includes' method, which although does not directly answer this question; is often related.
Usage:
["1", "1", "2", "3", "3", "1"].includes("2"); // true
Pollyfill (browser support, source from mozilla):
// https://tc39.github.io/ecma262/#sec-array.prototype.includes
if (!Array.prototype.includes) {
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'includes', {
value: function(searchElement, fromIndex) {
// 1. Let O be ? ToObject(this value).
if (this == null) {
throw new TypeError('"this" is null or not defined');
}
var o = Object(this);
// 2. Let len be ? ToLength(? Get(O, "length")).
var len = o.length >>> 0;
// 3. If len is 0, return false.
if (len === 0) {
return false;
}
// 4. Let n be ? ToInteger(fromIndex).
// (If fromIndex is undefined, this step produces the value 0.)
var n = fromIndex | 0;
// 5. If n ≥ 0, then
// a. Let k be n.
// 6. Else n < 0,
// a. Let k be len + n.
// b. If k < 0, let k be 0.
var k = Math.max(n >= 0 ? n : len - Math.abs(n), 0);
// 7. Repeat, while k < len
while (k < len) {
// a. Let elementK be the result of ? Get(O, ! ToString(k)).
// b. If SameValueZero(searchElement, elementK) is true, return true.
// c. Increase k by 1.
// NOTE: === provides the correct "SameValueZero" comparison needed here.
if (o[k] === searchElement) {
return true;
}
k++;
}
// 8. Return false
return false;
}
});
}

Since I went on about it in the comments for #Rocket's answer, I may as well provide an example that uses no libraries. This requires two new prototype functions, contains and unique
Array.prototype.contains = function(v) {
for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
if (this[i] === v) return true;
}
return false;
};
Array.prototype.unique = function() {
var arr = [];
for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
if (!arr.contains(this[i])) {
arr.push(this[i]);
}
}
return arr;
}
var duplicates = [1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 8];
var uniques = duplicates.unique(); // result = [1,3,4,2,8]
console.log(uniques);
For more reliability, you can replace contains with MDN's indexOf shim and check if each element's indexOf is equal to -1: documentation

One Liner, Pure JavaScript
With ES6 syntax
list = list.filter((x, i, a) => a.indexOf(x) === i)
x --> item in array
i --> index of item
a --> array reference, (in this case "list")
With ES5 syntax
list = list.filter(function (x, i, a) {
return a.indexOf(x) === i;
});
Browser Compatibility: IE9+

Using EcmaScript 2016 you can simply do it like this.
var arr = ["a", "a", "b"];
var uniqueArray = Array.from(new Set(arr)); // Unique Array ['a', 'b'];
Sets are always unique, and using Array.from() you can convert a Set to an array. For reference have a look at the documentations.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/from
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Set

These days, you can use ES6's Set data type to convert your array to a unique Set. Then, if you need to use array methods, you can turn it back into an Array:
var arr = ["a", "a", "b"];
var uniqueSet = new Set(arr); // {"a", "b"}
var uniqueArr = Array.from(uniqueSet); // ["a", "b"]
//Then continue to use array methods:
uniqueArr.join(", "); // "a, b"

If you want to leave the original array intact,
you need a second array to contain the uniqe elements of the first-
Most browsers have Array.prototype.filter:
const unique = array1.filter((item, index, array) => array.indexOf(item) === index);
//if you need a 'shim':
Array.prototype.filter= Array.prototype.filter || function(fun, scope){
var T= this, A= [], i= 0, itm, L= T.length;
if(typeof fun== 'function'){
while(i<L){
if(i in T){
itm= T[i];
if(fun.call(scope, itm, i, T)) A[A.length]= itm;
}
++i;
}
}
return A;
}
Array.prototype.indexOf= Array.prototype.indexOf || function(what, i){
if(!i || typeof i!= 'number') i= 0;
var L= this.length;
while(i<L){
if(this[i]=== what) return i;
++i;
}
return -1;
}

Fast, compact, no nested loops, works with any object not just strings and numbers, takes a predicate, and only 5 lines of code!!
function findUnique(arr, predicate) {
var found = {};
arr.forEach(d => {
found[predicate(d)] = d;
});
return Object.keys(found).map(key => found[key]);
}
Example: To find unique items by type:
var things = [
{ name: 'charm', type: 'quark'},
{ name: 'strange', type: 'quark'},
{ name: 'proton', type: 'boson'},
];
var result = findUnique(things, d => d.type);
// [
// { name: 'charm', type: 'quark'},
// { name: 'proton', type: 'boson'}
// ]
If you want it to find the first unique item instead of the last add a found.hasOwnPropery() check in there.

Not native in Javascript, but plenty of libraries have this method.
Underscore.js's _.uniq(array) (link) works quite well (source).

If you don't need to worry so much about older browsers, this is exactly what Sets are designed for.
The Set object lets you store unique values of any type, whether
primitive values or object references.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Set
const set1 = new Set([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1]);
// returns Set(5) {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

Using jQuery, here's an Array unique function I made:
Array.prototype.unique = function () {
var arr = this;
return $.grep(arr, function (v, i) {
return $.inArray(v, arr) === i;
});
}
console.log([1,2,3,1,2,3].unique()); // [1,2,3]

Short and sweet solution using second array;
var axes2=[1,4,5,2,3,1,2,3,4,5,1,3,4];
var distinct_axes2=[];
for(var i=0;i<axes2.length;i++)
{
var str=axes2[i];
if(distinct_axes2.indexOf(str)==-1)
{
distinct_axes2.push(str);
}
}
console.log("distinct_axes2 : "+distinct_axes2); // distinct_axes2 : 1,4,5,2,3

Majority of the solutions above have a high run time complexity.
Here is the solution that uses reduce and can do the job in O(n) time.
Array.prototype.unique = Array.prototype.unique || function() {
var arr = [];
this.reduce(function (hash, num) {
if(typeof hash[num] === 'undefined') {
hash[num] = 1;
arr.push(num);
}
return hash;
}, {});
return arr;
}
var myArr = [3,1,2,3,3,3];
console.log(myArr.unique()); //[3,1,2];
Note:
This solution is not dependent on reduce. The idea is to create an object map and push unique ones into the array.

You only need vanilla JS to find uniques with Array.some and Array.reduce. With ES2015 syntax it's only 62 characters.
a.reduce((c, v) => b.some(w => w === v) ? c : c.concat(v)), b)
Array.some and Array.reduce are supported in IE9+ and other browsers. Just change the fat arrow functions for regular functions to support in browsers that don't support ES2015 syntax.
var a = [1,2,3];
var b = [4,5,6];
// .reduce can return a subset or superset
var uniques = a.reduce(function(c, v){
// .some stops on the first time the function returns true
return (b.some(function(w){ return w === v; }) ?
// if there's a match, return the array "c"
c :
// if there's no match, then add to the end and return the entire array
c.concat(v)}),
// the second param in .reduce is the starting variable. This is will be "c" the first time it runs.
b);
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/some
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/Reduce

Another thought of this question. Here is what I did to achieve this with fewer code.
var distinctMap = {};
var testArray = ['John', 'John', 'Jason', 'Jason'];
for (var i = 0; i < testArray.length; i++) {
var value = testArray[i];
distinctMap[value] = '';
};
var unique_values = Object.keys(distinctMap);
console.log(unique_values);

Array.prototype.unique = function () {
var dictionary = {};
var uniqueValues = [];
for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
if (dictionary[this[i]] == undefined){
dictionary[this[i]] = i;
uniqueValues.push(this[i]);
}
}
return uniqueValues;
}

I have tried this problem in pure JS.
I have followed following steps 1. Sort the given array, 2. loop through the sorted array, 3. Verify previous value and next value with current value
// JS
var inpArr = [1, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2,2, 100, 100, -1];
//sort the given array
inpArr.sort(function(a, b){
return a-b;
});
var finalArr = [];
//loop through the inpArr
for(var i=0; i<inpArr.length; i++){
//check previous and next value
if(inpArr[i-1]!=inpArr[i] && inpArr[i] != inpArr[i+1]){
finalArr.push(inpArr[i]);
}
}
console.log(finalArr);
Demo

You can enter array with duplicates and below method will return array with unique elements.
function getUniqueArray(array){
var uniqueArray = [];
if (array.length > 0) {
uniqueArray[0] = array[0];
}
for(var i = 0; i < array.length; i++){
var isExist = false;
for(var j = 0; j < uniqueArray.length; j++){
if(array[i] == uniqueArray[j]){
isExist = true;
break;
}
else{
isExist = false;
}
}
if(isExist == false){
uniqueArray[uniqueArray.length] = array[i];
}
}
return uniqueArray;
}

Here is an approach with customizable equals function which can be used for primitives as well as for custom objects:
Array.prototype.pushUnique = function(element, equalsPredicate = (l, r) => l == r) {
let res = !this.find(item => equalsPredicate(item, element))
if(res){
this.push(element)
}
return res
}
usage:
//with custom equals for objects
myArrayWithObjects.pushUnique(myObject, (left, right) => left.id == right.id)
//with default equals for primitives
myArrayWithPrimitives.pushUnique(somePrimitive)

I was just thinking if we can use linear search to eliminate the duplicates:
JavaScript:
function getUniqueRadios() {
var x=document.getElementById("QnA");
var ansArray = new Array();
var prev;
for (var i=0;i<x.length;i++)
{
// Check for unique radio button group
if (x.elements[i].type == "radio")
{
// For the first element prev will be null, hence push it into array and set the prev var.
if (prev == null)
{
prev = x.elements[i].name;
ansArray.push(x.elements[i].name);
} else {
// We will only push the next radio element if its not identical to previous.
if (prev != x.elements[i].name)
{
prev = x.elements[i].name;
ansArray.push(x.elements[i].name);
}
}
}
}
alert(ansArray);
}
HTML:
<body>
<form name="QnA" action="" method='post' ">
<input type="radio" name="g1" value="ANSTYPE1"> good </input>
<input type="radio" name="g1" value="ANSTYPE2"> avg </input>
<input type="radio" name="g2" value="ANSTYPE3"> Type1 </input>
<input type="radio" name="g2" value="ANSTYPE2"> Type2 </input>
<input type="submit" value='SUBMIT' onClick="javascript:getUniqueRadios()"></input>
</form>
</body>

Shuffling array properties in JavaScript

I have a data dictionary like this:
var data = {
'text1': 1,
'text2': 2,
'text3': 3,
...
'text20': 20
];
I need to pick a random selection of those keys and then shuffle it's values. In the example, it should write something like this:
> console.log(choose(data, 5));
[ { key: 'text15', value: 8 },
{ key: 'text6', value: 3 },
{ key: 'text3', value: 15 },
{ key: 'text19', value: 6 },
{ key: 'text8', value: 19 } ]
For now I'm extracting the keys into another array and sorting by Math.random() but I'm stuck at swaping the values because no key should have the same value it initially had.
How would you swap key/values here?
Thanks

I put together a possible solution using underscore.js to simplify traversing the object and arrays in a cross browser manner:
var data = {
text1: 1,
text2: 2,
text3: 3,
text4: 4,
text5: 5,
text6: 6,
text7: 7,
text8: 8,
text9: 9,
text10: 10
};
function choose(data, num)
{
var keys = _.sortBy(
_.keys(data),
function(k)
{
return (Math.random() * 3) - 1;
}
),
results = [],
k1, k2;
if (num > keys.length) {
throw new Error('Impossible to retrieve more values than exist');
}
while (results.length < num) {
k1 = k2 || keys.pop();
k2 = keys.pop();
results.push({key:k1, value: data[k2]});
}
return results;
}
console.log(choose(data, 5));
This isn't necessarily an optimal approach but it seems to meet your requirements. I first grab all of the keys and sort them randomly. I then loop through the random keys creating a new object with one key and the following keys value. That way you'll always end up with a different value associated with each key. If you need it to work when the value of num passed in to the function == the number of keys in the data then you'll have to add a little more code - I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader :)
You can have a play with this code on jsfiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/zVyQW/1/

You could do this:
collect names and corresponding values in two arrays names and values
shuffle both arrays independently of each other
take the first n items of both arrays and combine them
Here’s an example implementation:
Array.prototype.shuffle = function() {
for (var i=this.length-1, j, tmp; i>0; i--) {
j = Math.round(Math.random()*i);
tmp = this[i], this[i] = this[j], this[j] = tmp;
}
return this;
};
function choose(data, number) {
var names = [], values = [], pick = [];
for (var name in data) {
if (data.hasOwnProperty(name)) {
names.push(name);
values.push(data[name]);
}
}
names = names.shuffle(), values = values.shuffle();
for (var i=Math.min(number >>> 0, names.length-1); i>=0; i--) {
pick.push({key: names[i], value: values[i]});
}
return pick;
}

Been a while since this was answered, but I was working on shuffling and found the following to be by far the fastest implementation with an evenly random distribution.
It's fast because it only makes one call to Math.random on each iteration, all the rest is done by property access. It doesn't modify the array, just reassigns values.
function shuffle(a) {
var t, j, i=a.length, rand=Math.random;
// For each element in the array, swap it with a random
// element (which might be itself)
while (i--) {
k = rand()*(i+1)|0;
t = a[k];
a[k]=a[i];
a[i]=t;
}
return a;
}

It uses a combination of three functions (including the Array shuffle prototype method).
Here is the complete code:
var obj = {
"red":"RED",
"blue":"BLUE",
"green":"GREEN",
"yellow":"YELLOW",
"purple":"PURPLE"
};
Array.prototype.shuffle = function(){
for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++){
var a = this[i];
var b = Math.floor(Math.random() * this.length);
this[i] = this[b];
this[b] = a;
}
}
obj = shuffleProperties(obj); // run shuffle
function shuffleProperties(obj) {
var new_obj = {};
var keys = getKeys(obj);
keys.shuffle();
for (var key in keys){
if (key == "shuffle") continue; // skip our prototype method
new_obj[keys[key]] = obj[keys[key]];
}
return new_obj;
}
function getKeys(obj){
var arr = new Array();
for (var key in obj)
arr.push(key);
return arr;
}
for(key in obj){
alert(key);
}
Check all post,
Best Regards.

Use an implementation of random that randomizes a discrete set of values, such as Math.rand seen here. For each index, randomize Math.rand(index, length-1) to get a list of random indexes, the location off all indices will change.