using jquery, how would i find the closest match in an array, to a specified number

Question

using jquery, how would i find the closest match in an array, to a specified number

For example, you've got an array like this:

1, 3, 8, 10, 13, ...

What number is closest to 4?

4 would return 3
2 would return 3
5 would return 3
6 would return 8

ive seen this done in many different languages, but not in jquery, is this possible to do simply

Answer 1

You can use the jQuery.each method to loop the array, other than that it's just plain Javascript. Something like:

var theArray = [ 1, 3, 8, 10, 13 ];
var goal = 4;
var closest = null;

$.each(theArray, function(){
  if (closest == null || Math.abs(this - goal) < Math.abs(closest - goal)) {
    closest = this;
  }
});

Answer 2

Here's a generalized version, taken from: http://www.weask.us/entry/finding-closest-number-array

int nearest = -1;
int bestDistanceFoundYet = Integer.MAX_INTEGER;
// We iterate on the array...
for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
   // if we found the desired number, we return it.
   if (array[i] == desiredNumber) {
      return array[i];
   } else {
      // else, we consider the difference between the desired number and the current number in the array.
      int d = Math.abs(desiredNumber - array[i]);
      if (d < bestDistanceFoundYet) {
      // For the moment, this value is the nearest to the desired number...
      nearest = array[i];
  }
}
}
return nearest;