Most efficient method to groupby on an array of objects

Using ES6 Map object:

/**
 * @description
 * Takes an Array<V>, and a grouping function,
 * and returns a Map of the array grouped by the grouping function.
 *
 * @param list An array of type V.
 * @param keyGetter A Function that takes the the Array type V as an input, and returns a value of type K.
 *                  K is generally intended to be a property key of V.
 *
 * @returns Map of the array grouped by the grouping function.
 */
//export function groupBy<K, V>(list: Array<V>, keyGetter: (input: V) => K): Map<K, Array<V>> {
//    const map = new Map<K, Array<V>>();
function groupBy(list, keyGetter) {
    const map = new Map();
    list.forEach((item) => {
         const key = keyGetter(item);
         const collection = map.get(key);
         if (!collection) {
             map.set(key, [item]);
         } else {
             collection.push(item);
         }
    });
    return map;
}


// example usage

const pets = [
    {type:"Dog", name:"Spot"},
    {type:"Cat", name:"Tiger"},
    {type:"Dog", name:"Rover"}, 
    {type:"Cat", name:"Leo"}
];
    
const grouped = groupBy(pets, pet => pet.type);
    
console.log(grouped.get("Dog")); // -> [{type:"Dog", name:"Spot"}, {type:"Dog", name:"Rover"}]
console.log(grouped.get("Cat")); // -> [{type:"Cat", name:"Tiger"}, {type:"Cat", name:"Leo"}]

const odd = Symbol();
const even = Symbol();
const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7];

const oddEven = groupBy(numbers, x => (x % 2 === 1 ? odd : even));
    
console.log(oddEven.get(odd)); // -> [1,3,5,7]
console.log(oddEven.get(even)); // -> [2,4,6]

About Map: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Map


If you want to avoid external libraries, you can concisely implement a vanilla version of groupBy() like so:

var groupBy = function(xs, key) {
  return xs.reduce(function(rv, x) {
    (rv[x[key]] = rv[x[key]] || []).push(x);
    return rv;
  }, {});
};

console.log(groupBy(['one', 'two', 'three'], 'length'));

// => {"3": ["one", "two"], "5": ["three"]}