flattening array of arrays javascript code example

Example 1: flatten an array in javascript

// Although this now may be an older version of how to faltten an 
// array of arrays. I still want to post it so some may have an understanding 
// of how it works

function falltenArray(arr) {
  
  let result = [...arr];
  let flattened = false;
  let counter = 0;
  
  while (flattened === false){
	// checks to see if the element at the counter index is an array
      if (Array.isArray(result[counter])){
        // unpacks the current array element back into the array
        result.splice(counter, 1, ...result[counter]);
        // if so the counter should start at the beginning of the array
        counter = 0;
        
      } else {
        counter += 1;
      }

      if (counter === result.length){
        flattened = true;
      }
  }
  
  return result;
}

Example 2: how to flatten nested arrays javascript

// using recursion, .reduce() and .concat() methods
// works with arrays of any depth

function flatten(arr)
{
	return arr.reduce((acc, cur) => acc.concat(Array.isArray(cur) ? flatten(cur) : cur), []);
};

const arr = [[1,2],[3,[4,[5]]]];

const flattened = flatten(arr);
console.log(flattened);

/*
	Output: [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]
*/