How to get the difference between two arrays in JavaScript?
Array.prototype.diff = function(a) {
return this.filter(function(i) {return a.indexOf(i) < 0;});
};
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// Examples //
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const dif1 = [1,2,3,4,5,6].diff( [3,4,5] );
console.log(dif1); // => [1, 2, 6]
const dif2 = ["test1", "test2","test3","test4","test5","test6"].diff(["test1","test2","test3","test4"]);
console.log(dif2); // => ["test5", "test6"]
Note .indexOf()
and .filter()
are not available before IE9.
There is a better way using ES7:
Intersection
let intersection = arr1.filter(x => arr2.includes(x));
For [1,2,3] [2,3]
it will yield [2,3]
. On the other hand, for [1,2,3] [2,3,5]
will return the same thing.
Difference
let difference = arr1.filter(x => !arr2.includes(x));
For [1,2,3] [2,3]
it will yield [1]
. On the other hand, for [1,2,3] [2,3,5]
will return the same thing.
For a symmetric difference, you can do:
let difference = arr1
.filter(x => !arr2.includes(x))
.concat(arr2.filter(x => !arr1.includes(x)));
This way, you will get an array containing all the elements of arr1 that are not in arr2 and vice-versa
As @Joshaven Potter pointed out on his answer, you can add this to Array.prototype so it can be used like this:
Array.prototype.diff = function(arr2) { return this.filter(x => !arr2.includes(x)); }
[1, 2, 3].diff([2, 3])