Remove every object inside the array

Question

I'm trying to delete all matched items from an array but it leaves Always one item in it.

var item1 = {item: "item1"},
    array = [{
        item: "item1"},{
        item: "item_non"},{
        item: "item1"},{
        item: "item_non"},{
        item: "item1"},{
        item: "item1"},{
        item: "item1"},{
        item: "item_non"},{
        item: "item_non"
    }];
array.forEach(function(items){
    if(item1.item === items.item){
        var index = array.indexOf(items);
        if(index !== -1){
            array.splice(index,1);
        }
    }
});

I also fiddle it, it deletes only 4/5 items that matches instead of 5/5.

Fiddle

There is no option to use Array#filter I need to delete the objects.

Modifying the array while iterating via .forEach() is the fundamental problem. The right way to do this is with .filter() or with a simple for loop. If you think you can't use .filter(), you should explain why. — Pointy
– Pointy, Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 23:04
When you remove an item, you change following indexes. You can fix it by iterating backwards. — Oriol
– Oriol, Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 23:05

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-21 23:31:55Z

6

The problem is that .splice() moves all the elements after the deleted element down. So if you delete element 3, element 4 becomes 3, 5, becomes 4, and so on. The next iteration of the loop will process element 4, but that's the original element 5 -- the original element 4 is skipped.

The way to solve this is to process the array in reverse. .forEach can't do this, AFAIK, so you have to use a for loop:

for (var i = array.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
    item = array[i];
    if (item1.item == item.item) {
        array.splice(i, 1);
    }
}

answered Oct 21, 2015 at 23:31

Barmar

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1 Comment

Chris L Over a year ago

I hope the guy asking the question realizes this is the right answer for what he is asking..

Geuis · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-21 23:39:32Z

0

Here's another version that does in-place manipulation of the array.

http://codepen.io/anon/pen/XmZrww?editors=001

// remove the matching item and return the array
var filterArray = function (arr, obj) {
  for (var i = 0, len = arr.length; i < len; i++) {
    if (arr[i].item === obj.item) {
      arr.splice(i, 1);
      len--;
      i--;
    }
  }
  return arr;
};

var item1 = {item: "item1"};
var data = [
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item_non"}
];

console.log(filterArray(data, item1));

answered Oct 21, 2015 at 23:39

Geuis

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3 Comments

Barmar Over a year ago

You're initializing i to 0, and then doing i--. So it will then try to test arr[-1], which doesn't exist.

Barmar Over a year ago

Oh, I see. You decrement i inside the loop, then the for() increments it back.

Geuis Over a year ago

Yeah but your answer is the more succinct way to do this. Upvoted

Geuis · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-21 23:32:10Z

-1

Here's my version http://codepen.io/anon/pen/VvQZVe?editors=001

Note I cleaned up the code a bit.

Repeatedly using indexOf in a loop is expensive. The worst case for doing that in a big array is having to go to almost the end of the loop many times.

This version potentially uses almost 2x the memory (imagine a big array where there's only a single item to be removed). But, its faster.

// indexOf is expensive, especially in a loop.
// here we just iterate straight through the array and append
// mismatching properties to another array that gets returned.
var filterArray = function (arr, obj) {
  var returnArray = [];

  arr.forEach(function (el) {
    if (el.item !== obj.item) {
      returnArray.push(el);
    }
  });

  return returnArray;
};

var item1 = {item: "item1"};
var data = [
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item1"},
  {item: "item_non"},
  {item: "item_non"}
];

console.log(filterArray(data, item1));

answered Oct 21, 2015 at 23:32

Geuis

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3 Comments

Barmar Over a year ago

Your filterArray function is equivalent to Array.prototype.filter, which he said won't work for him.

Geuis Over a year ago

He said he can't use Array.filter. He doesn't say anything about not being able to use a function that does something like a polyfill.

Barmar Over a year ago

He said "I need to delete the objects". I think that means that he needs to keep the same array, not create a new array like filter does.

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