Generate Key Number Javascript Map Array
Is there a way to generate sequence of characters or numbers in javascript? For example, I want to create array that contains eight 1s. I can do it with for loop, but wondering whether there is a. Create Key Value Pair Array Using Javascript, Our today's article is simple but demanding. Most of the new or experience java-script developer required below code. In this code snippet I have define java-script array values are in the form of key and value.
- Javascript Filter
- Javascript Map Array Keys
- Generate Key Number Javascript Map Array Examples
- Javascript Map Function
Now we’ve learned about the following complex data structures:
- Objects for storing keyed collections.
- Arrays for storing ordered collections.
But that’s not enough for real life. That’s why Map
and Set
also exist.
Map
Map is a collection of keyed data items, just like an Object
. But the main difference is that Map
allows keys of any type.
Methods and properties are:
new Map()
– creates the map.map.set(key, value)
– stores the value by the key.map.get(key)
– returns the value by the key,undefined
ifkey
doesn’t exist in map.map.has(key)
– returnstrue
if thekey
exists,false
otherwise.map.delete(key)
– removes the value by the key.map.clear()
– removes everything from the map.map.size
– returns the current element count.
For instance:
As we can see, unlike objects, keys are not converted to strings. Any type of key is possible.
Although map[key]
also works, e.g. we can set map[key] = 2
, this is treating map
as a plain JavaScript object, so it implies all corresponding limitations (no object keys and so on).
So we should use map
methods: set
, get
and so on.
Map can also use objects as keys.
For instance:
Using objects as keys is one of most notable and important Map
features. For string keys, Object
can be fine, but not for object keys.
Let’s try:
As visitsCountObj
is an object, it converts all keys, such as john
to strings, so we’ve got the string key '[object Object]'
. Definitely not what we want.
To test keys for equivalence, Map
uses the algorithm SameValueZero. It is roughly the same as strict equality , but the difference is that NaN
is considered equal to NaN
. So NaN
can be used as the key as well.
This algorithm can’t be changed or customized.
Every map.set
call returns the map itself, so we can “chain” the calls:
Iteration over Map
For looping over a map
, there are 3 methods:
map.keys()
– returns an iterable for keys,map.values()
– returns an iterable for values,map.entries()
– returns an iterable for entries[key, value]
, it’s used by default infor.of
.
For instance:
The iteration goes in the same order as the values were inserted. Map
preserves this order, unlike a regular Object
.
Besides that, Map
has a built-in forEach
method, similar to Array
:
Object.entries: Map from Object
When a Map
is created, we can pass an array (or another iterable) with key/value pairs for initialization, like this:
If we have a plain object, and we’d like to create a Map
from it, then we can use built-in method Object.entries(obj) that returns an array of key/value pairs for an object exactly in that format.
So we can create a map from an object like this:
Here, Object.entries
returns the array of key/value pairs: [ ['name','John'], ['age', 30] ]
. That’s what Map
needs.
Object.fromEntries: Object from Map
We’ve just seen how to create Map
from a plain object with Object.entries(obj)
.
There’s Object.fromEntries
method that does the reverse: given an array of [key, value]
pairs, it creates an object from them:
We can use Object.fromEntries
to get an plain object from Map
.
E.g. we store the data in a Map
, but we need to pass it to a 3rd-party code that expects a plain object.
Here we go:
A call to map.entries()
returns an array of key/value pairs, exactly in the right format for Object.fromEntries
.
We could also make line (*)
shorter:
That’s the same, because Object.fromEntries
expects an iterable object as the argument. Not necessarily an array. And the standard iteration for map
returns same key/value pairs as map.entries()
. So we get a plain object with same key/values as the map
.
Set
A Set
is a special type collection – “set of values” (without keys), where each value may occur only once.
Its main methods are:
new Set(iterable)
– creates the set, and if aniterable
object is provided (usually an array), copies values from it into the set.set.add(value)
– adds a value, returns the set itself.set.delete(value)
– removes the value, returnstrue
ifvalue
existed at the moment of the call, otherwisefalse
.set.has(value)
– returnstrue
if the value exists in the set, otherwisefalse
.set.clear()
– removes everything from the set.set.size
– is the elements count.
The main feature is that repeated calls of set.add(value)
with the same value don’t do anything. That’s the reason why each value appears in a Set
only once.
For example, we have visitors coming, and we’d like to remember everyone. But repeated visits should not lead to duplicates. A visitor must be “counted” only once.
Set
is just the right thing for that:
The alternative to Set
could be an array of users, and the code to check for duplicates on every insertion using arr.find. But the performance would be much worse, because this method walks through the whole array checking every element. Set
is much better optimized internally for uniqueness checks.
Iteration over Set
We can loop over a set either with for.of
or using forEach
:
Note the funny thing. The callback function passed in forEach
has 3 arguments: a value
, then the same valuevalueAgain
, and then the target object. Indeed, the same value appears in the arguments twice.
That’s for compatibility with Map
where the callback passed forEach
has three arguments. Looks a bit strange, for sure. But may help to replace Map
with Set
in certain cases with ease, and vice versa.
The same methods Map
has for iterators are also supported:
set.keys()
– returns an iterable object for values,set.values()
– same asset.keys()
, for compatibility withMap
,set.entries()
– returns an iterable object for entries[value, value]
, exists for compatibility withMap
.
Summary
Map
– is a collection of keyed values.
Methods and properties:
new Map([iterable])
– creates the map, with optionaliterable
(e.g. array) of[key,value]
pairs for initialization.map.set(key, value)
– stores the value by the key.map.get(key)
– returns the value by the key,undefined
ifkey
doesn’t exist in map.map.has(key)
– returnstrue
if thekey
exists,false
otherwise.map.delete(key)
– removes the value by the key.map.clear()
– removes everything from the map.map.size
– returns the current element count.
The differences from a regular Object
:
- Any keys, objects can be keys.
- Additional convenient methods, the
size
property.
Set
– is a collection of unique values.
Methods and properties:
new Set([iterable])
– creates the set, with optionaliterable
(e.g. array) of values for initialization.set.add(value)
– adds a value (does nothing ifvalue
exists), returns the set itself.set.delete(value)
– removes the value, returnstrue
ifvalue
existed at the moment of the call, otherwisefalse
.set.has(value)
– returnstrue
if the value exists in the set, otherwisefalse
.set.clear()
– removes everything from the set.set.size
– is the elements count.
Iteration over Map
and Set
is always in the insertion order, so we can’t say that these collections are unordered, but we can’t reorder elements or directly get an element by its number.
JavaScript arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable.
Example
Try it Yourself »What is an Array?
An array is a special variable, which can hold more than one value at a time.
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in single variables could look like this:
var car2 = 'Volvo';
var car3 = 'BMW';
However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you had not 3 cars, but 300?
The solution is an array!
An array can hold many values under a single name, and you can access the values by referring to an index number.
Creating an Array
Using an array literal is the easiest way to create a JavaScript Array.
Syntax:
Example
Try it Yourself »Spaces and line breaks are not important. A declaration can span multiple lines:
Example
Try it Yourself »Using the JavaScript Keyword new
The following example also creates an Array, and assigns values to it:
Example
Try it Yourself »The two examples above do exactly the same. There is no need to use new Array()
.
For simplicity, readability and execution speed, use the first one (the array literal method).
Access the Elements of an Array
You access an array element by referring to the index number.
This statement accesses the value of the first element in cars
:
Example
document.getElementById('demo').innerHTML = cars[0];
Note: Array indexes start with 0. Asteps to take after generating a new key.
[0] is the first element. [1] is the second element.
Changing an Array Element
This statement changes the value of the first element in cars
:
Example
cars[0] = 'Opel';
document.getElementById('demo').innerHTML = cars[0];
Access the Full Array
With JavaScript, the full array can be accessed by referring to the array name:
Example
document.getElementById('demo').innerHTML = cars;
Arrays are Objects
Arrays are a special type of objects. The typeof
operator in JavaScript returns 'object' for arrays.
But, JavaScript arrays are best described as arrays.
Arrays use numbers to access its 'elements'. In this example, person[0]
returns John:
Array:
Try it Yourself »Objects use names to access its 'members'. In this example, person.firstName
returns John:
Object:
Array Elements Can Be Objects
JavaScript variables can be objects. Arrays are special kinds of objects.
Because of this, you can have variables of different types in the same Array.
You can have objects in an Array. You can have functions in an Array. You can have arrays in an Array:
myArray[1] = myFunction;
myArray[2] = myCars;
Array Properties and Methods
The real strength of JavaScript arrays are the built-in array properties and methods:
Examples
var y = cars.sort(); // The sort() method sorts arrays
Array methods are covered in the next chapters.
Javascript Filter
The length Property
The length
property of an array returns the length of an array (the number of array elements).
Example
fruits.length; // the length of fruits is 4
The length
property is always one more than the highest array index.
Accessing the First Array Element
Example
var first = fruits[0];
Accessing the Last Array Element
Example
var last = fruits[fruits.length - 1];
Looping Array Elements
The safest way to loop through an array, is using a for
loop:
Example
fruits = ['Banana', 'Orange', 'Apple', 'Mango'];
fLen = fruits.length;
text = '<ul>';
for (i = 0; i < fLen; i++) {
text += '<li>' + fruits[i] + '</li>';
}
text += '</ul>';
You can also use the Array.forEach()
function:
Example
fruits = ['Banana', 'Orange', 'Apple', 'Mango'];
text = '<ul>';
fruits.forEach(myFunction);
text += '</ul>';
function myFunction(value) {
text += '<li>' + value + '</li>';
}
Adding Array Elements
The easiest way to add a new element to an array is using the push()
method:
Javascript Map Array Keys
Example
fruits.push('Lemon'); // adds a new element (Lemon) to fruits
New element can also be added to an array using the length
property:
Example
fruits[fruits.length] = 'Lemon'; // adds a new element (Lemon) to fruits
WARNING !
Adding elements with high indexes can create undefined 'holes' in an array:
Example
fruits[6] = 'Lemon'; // adds a new element (Lemon) to fruits
Associative Arrays
Many programming languages support arrays with named indexes.
Arrays with named indexes are called associative arrays (or hashes).
JavaScript does not support arrays with named indexes.
In JavaScript, arrays always use numbered indexes.
Example
person[0] = 'John';
person[1] = 'Doe';
person[2] = 46;
var x = person.length; // person.length will return 3
var y = person[0]; // person[0] will return 'John'
WARNING !!
If you use named indexes, JavaScript will redefine the array to a standard object.
After that, some array methods and properties will produce incorrect results.
Example:
person['firstName'] = 'John';
person['lastName'] = 'Doe';
person['age'] = 46;
var x = person.length; // person.length will return 0
var y = person[0]; // person[0] will return undefined
The Difference Between Arrays and Objects
Generate Key Number Javascript Map Array Examples
In JavaScript, arrays use numbered indexes.
In JavaScript, objects use named indexes.
Arrays are a special kind of objects, with numbered indexes.
When to Use Arrays. When to use Objects.
- JavaScript does not support associative arrays.
- You should use objects when you want the element names to be strings (text).
- You should use arrays when you want the element names to be numbers.
Avoid new Array()
There is no need to use the JavaScript's built-in array constructor new
Array().
Use []
instead.
These two different statements both create a new empty array named points:
var points = []; // Good
These two different statements both create a new array containing 6 numbers:
var points = [40, 100, 1, 5, 25, 10]; // Good
The new
keyword only complicates the code. It can also produce some unexpected results:
What if I remove one of the elements?
Javascript Map Function
Try it Yourself »How to Recognize an Array
A common question is: How do I know if a variable is an array?
The problem is that the JavaScript operator typeof
returns 'object
':
typeof fruits; // returns object
The typeof operator returns object because a JavaScript array is an object.
Solution 1:
To solve this problem ECMAScript 5 defines a new method Array.isArray()
:
The problem with this solution is that ECMAScript 5 is not supported in older browsers.
Solution 2:
To solve this problem you can create your own isArray()
function:
return x.constructor.toString().indexOf('Array') > -1;
}
The function above always returns true if the argument is an array.
Or more precisely: it returns true if the object prototype contains the word 'Array'.
Solution 3:
The instanceof
operator returns true if an object is created by a given constructor:
fruits instanceof Array; // returns true