Split array into chunks

The array.slice method can extract a slice from the beginning, middle, or end of an array for whatever purposes you require, without changing the original array.

var i,j, temporary, chunk = 10;
for (i = 0,j = array.length; i < j; i += chunk) {
    temporary = array.slice(i, i + chunk);
    // do whatever
}

Here's a ES6 version using reduce

var perChunk = 2 // items per chunk    

var inputArray = ['a','b','c','d','e']

var result = inputArray.reduce((resultArray, item, index) => { 
  const chunkIndex = Math.floor(index/perChunk)

  if(!resultArray[chunkIndex]) {
    resultArray[chunkIndex] = [] // start a new chunk
  }

  resultArray[chunkIndex].push(item)

  return resultArray
}, [])

console.log(result); // result: [['a','b'], ['c','d'], ['e']]

And you're ready to chain further map/reduce transformations. Your input array is left intact

If you prefer a shorter but less readable version, you can sprinkle some concat into the mix for the same end result:

inputArray.reduce((all,one,i) => {
   const ch = Math.floor(i/perChunk); 
   all[ch] = [].concat((all[ch]||[]),one); 
   return all
}, [])

You can use remainder operator to put consecutive items into different chunks:

const ch = (i % perChunk);

Modified from an answer by dbaseman: https://stackoverflow.com/a/10456344/711085

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk_inefficient', {
  value: function(chunkSize) {
    var array = this;
    return [].concat.apply([],
      array.map(function(elem, i) {
        return i % chunkSize ? [] : [array.slice(i, i + chunkSize)];
      })
    );
  }
});

console.log(
  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].chunk_inefficient(3)
)
// [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7]]

minor addendum:

I should point out that the above is a not-that-elegant (in my mind) workaround to use Array.map. It basically does the following, where ~ is concatenation:

[[1,2,3]]~[]~[]~[] ~ [[4,5,6]]~[]~[]~[] ~ [[7]]

It has the same asymptotic running time as the method below, but perhaps a worse constant factor due to building empty lists. One could rewrite this as follows (mostly the same as Blazemonger's method, which is why I did not originally submit this answer):

More efficient method:

// refresh page if experimenting and you already defined Array.prototype.chunk

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {
  value: function(chunkSize) {
    var R = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i += chunkSize)
      R.push(this.slice(i, i + chunkSize));
    return R;
  }
});

console.log(
  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].chunk(3)
)

My preferred way nowadays is the above, or one of the following:

Array.range = function(n) {
  // Array.range(5) --> [0,1,2,3,4]
  return Array.apply(null,Array(n)).map((x,i) => i)
};

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {
  value: function(n) {

    // ACTUAL CODE FOR CHUNKING ARRAY:
    return Array.range(Math.ceil(this.length/n)).map((x,i) => this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));

  }
});

Demo:

> JSON.stringify( Array.range(10).chunk(3) );
[[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9],[10]]

Or if you don't want an Array.range function, it's actually just a one-liner (excluding the fluff):

var ceil = Math.ceil;

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {value: function(n) {
    return Array(ceil(this.length/n)).fill().map((_,i) => this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));
}});

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {value: function(n) {
    return Array.from(Array(ceil(this.length/n)), (_,i)=>this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));
}});

Split array into chunks

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