Simplest code for array intersection in javascript

Question

What's the simplest, library-free code for implementing array intersections in javascript? I want to write

intersection([1,2,3], [2,3,4,5])

and get

[2, 3]

Answer 1

Use a combination of filter and indexOf.

EDIT: If you really want a code sample:

array1.filter(function(n) {
        if(array2.indexOf(n) == -1)
            return false;
        return true;
    });

Illustrates the concept, at least.

Answer 2

1. Sort it
2. check one by one from the index 0, create new array from that.

Something like this, Not tested well though.

function intersection(x,y){
 x.sort();y.sort();
 var i=j=0;ret=[];
 while(i<x.length && j<y.length){
  if(x[i]<y[j])i++;
  else if(y[j]<x[i])j++;
  else {
   ret.push(x[i]);
   i++,j++;
  }
 }
 return ret;
}

alert(intersection([1,2,3], [2,3,4,5]));

PS:The algorithm only intended for Numbers and Normal Strings, intersection of arbitary object arrays may not work.

Answer 3

How about just using associative arrays?

function intersect(a, b) {
    var d1 = {};
    var d2 = {};
    var results = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
        d1[a[i]] = true;
    }
    for (var j = 0; j < b.length; j++) {
        d2[b[j]] = true;
    }
    for (var k in d1) {
        if (d2[k]) 
            results.push(k);
    }
    return results;
}

Answer 4

"filter" and "indexOf" aren't supported on Array in IE. How about this:

var array1 = [1, 2, 3];
var array2 = [2, 3, 4, 5];

var intersection = [];
for (i in array1) {
    for (j in array2) {
        if (array1[i] == array2[j]) intersection.push(array1[i]);
    }
}

Answer 5

For arrays containing only strings or numbers you can do something with sorting, as per some of the other answers. For the general case of arrays of arbitrary objects I don't think you can avoid doing it the long way. The following will give you the intersection of any number of arrays provided as parameters to arrayIntersection:

var arrayContains = Array.prototype.indexOf ?
    function(arr, val) {
        return arr.indexOf(val) > -1;
    } :
    function(arr, val) {
        var i = arr.length;
        while (i--) {
            if (arr[i] === val) {
                return true;
            }
        }
        return false;
    };

function arrayIntersection() {
    var val, arrayCount, firstArray, i, j, intersection = [], missing;
    var arrays = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments); // Convert arguments into a real array

    // Search for common values
    firstArr = arrays.pop();
    if (firstArr) {
        j = firstArr.length;
        arrayCount = arrays.length;
        while (j--) {
            val = firstArr[j];
            missing = false;

            // Check val is present in each remaining array 
            i = arrayCount;
            while (!missing && i--) {
                if ( !arrayContains(arrays[i], val) ) {
                    missing = true;
                }
            }
            if (!missing) {
                intersection.push(val);
            }
        }
    }
    return intersection;
}

arrayIntersection( [1, 2, 3, "a"], [1, "a", 2], ["a", 1] ); // Gives [1, "a"];