Remove all elements contained in another array
I am looking for an efficient way to remove all elements from a javascript array if they are present in another array.
// If I have this array:
var myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'];
// and this one:
var toRemove = ['b', 'c', 'g'];
I want to operate on myArray to leave it in this state: ['a', 'd', 'e', 'f']
With jQuery, I'm using grep()
and inArray()
, which works well:
myArray = $.grep(myArray, function(value) {
return $.inArray(value, toRemove) < 0;
});
Is there a pure javascript way to do this without looping and splicing?
Use the Array.filter()
method:
myArray = myArray.filter( function( el ) {
return toRemove.indexOf( el ) < 0;
} );
Small improvement, as browser support for Array.includes()
has increased:
myArray = myArray.filter( function( el ) {
return !toRemove.includes( el );
} );
Next adaptation using arrow functions:
myArray = myArray.filter( ( el ) => !toRemove.includes( el ) );
ECMAScript 6 sets can permit faster computing of the elements of one array that aren't in the other:
const myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'];
const toRemove = new Set(['b', 'c', 'g']);
const difference = myArray.filter( x => !toRemove.has(x) );
console.log(difference); // ["a", "d", "e", "f"]
Since the lookup complexity for the V8 engine browsers use these days is O(1), the time complexity of the whole algorithm is O(n).