Obtain smallest value from array in Javascript?

Solution 1:

The tersest expressive code to find the minimum value is probably rest parameters:

const arr = [14, 58, 20, 77, 66, 82, 42, 67, 42, 4]
const min = Math.min(...arr)
console.log(min)

Rest parameters are essentially a convenient shorthand for Function.prototype.apply when you don't need to change the function's context:

var arr = [14, 58, 20, 77, 66, 82, 42, 67, 42, 4]
var min = Math.min.apply(Math, arr)
console.log(min)

This is also a great use case for Array.prototype.reduce:

const arr = [14, 58, 20, 77, 66, 82, 42, 67, 42, 4]
const min = arr.reduce((a, b) => Math.min(a, b))
console.log(min)

It may be tempting to pass Math.min directly to reduce, however the callback receives additional parameters:

callback (accumulator, currentValue, currentIndex, array)

In this particular case it may be a bit verbose. reduce is particularly useful when you have a collection of complex data that you want to aggregate into a single value:

const arr = [{name: 'Location 1', distance: 14}, {name: 'Location 2', distance: 58}, {name: 'Location 3', distance: 20}, {name: 'Location 4', distance: 77}, {name: 'Location 5', distance: 66}, {name: 'Location 6', distance: 82}, {name: 'Location 7', distance: 42}, {name: 'Location 8', distance: 67}, {name: 'Location 9', distance: 42}, {name: 'Location 10', distance: 4}]
const closest = arr.reduce(
  (acc, loc) =>
    acc.distance < loc.distance
      ? acc
      : loc
)
console.log(closest)

And of course you can always use classic iteration:

var arr,
  i,
  l,
  min

arr = [14, 58, 20, 77, 66, 82, 42, 67, 42, 4]
min = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY
for (i = 0, l = arr.length; i < l; i++) {
  min = Math.min(min, arr[i])
}
console.log(min)

...but even classic iteration can get a modern makeover:

const arr = [14, 58, 20, 77, 66, 82, 42, 67, 42, 4]
let min = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY
for (const value of arr) {
  min = Math.min(min, value)
}
console.log(min)

Solution 2:

Jon Resig illustrated in this article how this could be achieved by extending the Array prototype and invoking the underlying Math.min method which unfortunately doesn't take an array but a variable number of arguments:

Array.min = function( array ){
    return Math.min.apply( Math, array );
};

and then:

var minimum = Array.min(array);

Solution 3:

I find that the easiest way to return the smallest value of an array is to use the Spread Operator on Math.min() function.

return Math.min(...justPrices);
//returns 1.5 on example given

The page on MDN helps to understand it better: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Math/min

A little extra: This also works on Math.max() function

return Math.max(...justPrices); //returns 9.9 on example given.

Hope this helps!

Solution 4:

Update: use Darin's / John Resig answer, just keep in mind that you dont need to specifiy thisArg for min, so Math.min.apply(null, arr) will work just fine.

or you can just sort the array and get value #1: [2,6,7,4,1].sort()[0]

[!] But without supplying custom number sorting function, this will only work in one, very limited case: positive numbers less than 10. See how it would break:

var a = ['', -0.1, -2, -Infinity, Infinity, 0, 0.01, 2, 2.0, 2.01, 11, 1, 1e-10, NaN];

// correct: 
a.sort( function (a,b) { return a === b ? 0 : a < b ? -1: 1} );
//Array [NaN, -Infinity, -2, -0.1, 0, "", 1e-10, 0.01, 1, 2, 2, 2.01, 11, Infinity]

// incorrect:
a.sort();
//Array ["", -0.1, -2, -Infinity, 0, 0.01, 1, 11, 1e-10, 2, 2, 2.01, Infinity, NaN]

And, also, array is changed in-place, which might not be what you want.

Solution 5:

ES6 is the way of the future.

arr.reduce((a, b) => Math.min(a, b));

I prefer this form because it's easily generalized for other use cases