Remove duplicates from an array of objects in javascript

Question

I have an object that contains an array of objects.

things = new Object();

things.thing = new Array();

things.thing.push({place:"here",name:"stuff"});
things.thing.push({place:"there",name:"morestuff"});
things.thing.push({place:"there",name:"morestuff"});

I'm wondering what is the best method to remove duplicate objects from an array. So for example, things.thing would become...

{place:"here",name:"stuff"},
{place:"there",name:"morestuff"}

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Let's see ... a primitive one would be:

var arr = {};

for ( i=0; i < things.thing.length; i++ )
    arr[things.thing[i]['id']] = things.thing[i];

things.thing = new Array();
for ( key in arr )
    things.thing.push(arr[key]);

Ok, I think that should do the trick. Check it out, Travis.

Answer 2

UPDATED

I've now read the question properly. This is a generic way of doing this: you pass in a function that tests whether two elements of an array are considered equal. In this case, it compares the values of the name and place properties of the two objects being compared.

function arrayContains(arr, val, equals) {
    var i = arr.length;
    while (i--) {
        if ( equals(arr[i], val) ) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

function removeDuplicates(arr, equals) {
    var originalArr = arr.slice(0);
    var i, len, j, val;
    arr.length = 0;

    for (i = 0, len = originalArr.length; i < len; ++i) {
        val = originalArr[i];
        if (!arrayContains(arr, val, equals)) {
            arr.push(val);
        }
    }
}

function thingsEqual(thing1, thing2) {
    return thing1.place === thing2.place
        && thing1.name === thing2.name;
}

removeDuplicates(things.thing, thingsEqual);

Answer 3

If you can wait to eliminate the duplicates until after all the additions, the typical approach is to first sort the array and then eliminate duplicates. The sorting avoids the N * N approach of scanning the array for each element as you walk through them.

The "eliminate duplicates" function is usually called unique or uniq. Some existing implementations may combine the two steps, e.g., prototype's uniq

This post has few ideas to try (and some to avoid :-) ) if your library doesn't already have one! Personally I find this one the most straight forward:

    function unique(a){
        a.sort();
        for(var i = 1; i < a.length; ){
            if(a[i-1] == a[i]){
                a.splice(i, 1);
            } else {
                i++;
            }
        }
        return a;
    }  

    // Provide your own comparison
    function unique(a, compareFunc){
        a.sort( compareFunc );
        for(var i = 1; i < a.length; ){
            if( compareFunc(a[i-1], a[i]) === 0){
                a.splice(i, 1);
            } else {
                i++;
            }
        }
        return a;
    }