Most efficient method to groupby on an array of objects

What is the most efficient way to groupby objects in an array?

For example, given this array of objects:

[ 
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 1", Task: "Task 1", Value: "5" },
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 1", Task: "Task 2", Value: "10" },
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 2", Task: "Task 1", Value: "15" },
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 2", Task: "Task 2", Value: "20" },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 1", Task: "Task 1", Value: "25" },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 1", Task: "Task 2", Value: "30" },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 2", Task: "Task 1", Value: "35" },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 2", Task: "Task 2", Value: "40" }
]

I’m displaying this information in a table. I’d like to groupby different methods, but I want to sum the values.

I’m using Underscore.js for its groupby function, which is helpful, but doesn’t do the whole trick, because I don’t want them “split up” but “merged”, more like the SQL group by method.

What I’m looking for would be able to total specific values (if requested).

So if I did groupby Phase, I’d want to receive:

[
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Value: 50 },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Value: 130 }
]

And if I did groupy Phase / Step, I’d receive:

[
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 1", Value: 15 },
    { Phase: "Phase 1", Step: "Step 2", Value: 35 },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 1", Value: 55 },
    { Phase: "Phase 2", Step: "Step 2", Value: 75 }
]

Is there a helpful script for this, or should I stick to using Underscore.js, and then looping through the resulting object to do the totals myself?

If you want to avoid external libraries, you can concisely implement a vanilla version of groupBy() like so:

var groupBy = function(xs, key) {
  return xs.reduce(function(rv, x) {
    (rv[x[key]] = rv[x[key]] || []).push(x);
    return rv;
  }, {});
};

console.log(groupBy(['one', 'two', 'three'], 'length'));

// => {3: ["one", "two"], 5: ["three"]}

Using ES6 Map object:

/**
 * @description
 * Takes an Array<V>, and a grouping function,
 * and returns a Map of the array grouped by the grouping function.
 *
 * @param list An array of type V.
 * @param keyGetter A Function that takes the the Array type V as an input, and returns a value of type K.
 *                  K is generally intended to be a property key of V.
 *
 * @returns Map of the array grouped by the grouping function.
 */
//export function groupBy<K, V>(list: Array<V>, keyGetter: (input: V) => K): Map<K, Array<V>> {
//    const map = new Map<K, Array<V>>();
function groupBy(list, keyGetter) {
    const map = new Map();
    list.forEach((item) => {
         const key = keyGetter(item);
         const collection = map.get(key);
         if (!collection) {
             map.set(key, [item]);
         } else {
             collection.push(item);
         }
    });
    return map;
}


// example usage

const pets = [
    {type:"Dog", name:"Spot"},
    {type:"Cat", name:"Tiger"},
    {type:"Dog", name:"Rover"}, 
    {type:"Cat", name:"Leo"}
];
    
const grouped = groupBy(pets, pet => pet.type);
    
console.log(grouped.get("Dog")); // -> [{type:"Dog", name:"Spot"}, {type:"Dog", name:"Rover"}]
console.log(grouped.get("Cat")); // -> [{type:"Cat", name:"Tiger"}, {type:"Cat", name:"Leo"}]

const odd = Symbol();
const even = Symbol();
const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7];

const oddEven = groupBy(numbers, x => (x % 2 === 1 ? odd : even));
    
console.log(oddEven.get(odd)); // -> [1,3,5,7]
console.log(oddEven.get(even)); // -> [2,4,6]

About Map: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Map

with ES6:

const groupBy = (items, key) => items.reduce(
  (result, item) => ({
    ...result,
    [item[key]]: [
      ...(result[item[key]] || []),
      item,
    ],
  }), 
  {},
);