jQuery function to get all unique elements from an array?

jQuery.unique lets you get unique elements of an array, but the docs say the function is mostly for internal use and only operates on DOM elements. Another SO response said the unique() function worked on numbers, but that this use case is not necessarily future proof because it's not explicitly stated in the docs.

Given this, is there a "standard" jQuery function for accessing only the unique values — specifically, primitives like integers — in an array? (Obviously, we can construct a loop with the each() function, but we are new to jQuery and would like to know if there is a dedicated jQuery function for this.)

You can use array.filter to return the first item of each distinct value-

var a = [ 1, 5, 1, 6, 4, 5, 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 2, 6, 6, 3, 3, 2, 4 ];

var unique = a.filter(function(itm, i, a) {
    return i == a.indexOf(itm);
});

console.log(unique);

If supporting IE8 and below is primary, don't use the unsupported filter method.

Otherwise,

if (!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;
    }
}

Just use this code as the basis of a simple JQuery plugin.

$.extend({
    distinct : function(anArray) {
       var result = [];
       $.each(anArray, function(i,v){
           if ($.inArray(v, result) == -1) result.push(v);
       });
       return result;
    }
});

Use as so:

$.distinct([0,1,2,2,3]);

Based on @kennebec's answer, but fixed for IE8 and below by using jQuery wrappers around the array to provide missing Array functions filter and indexOf:

$.makeArray() wrapper might not be absolutely needed, but you'll get odd results if you omit this wrapper and JSON.stringify the result otherwise.

var a = [1,5,1,6,4,5,2,5,4,3,1,2,6,6,3,3,2,4];

// note: jQuery's filter params are opposite of javascript's native implementation :(
var unique = $.makeArray($(a).filter(function(i,itm){ 
    // note: 'index', not 'indexOf'
    return i == $(a).index(itm);
}));

// unique: [1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 3]

I would use underscore.js, which provides a uniq method that does what you want.

jQuery function to get all unique elements from an array?

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