Array.prototype.reduce()
The reduce()
method applies a function against an accumulator and each value of the array (from left-to-right) to reduce it to a single value.
Syntax
<var>arr</var>.reduce(<var>callback</var>[, <var>initialValue</var>])
Parameters
callback
- Function to execute on each value in the array, taking four arguments:
previousValue
- The value previously returned in the last invocation of the callback, or
initialValue
, if supplied. (See below.) currentValue
- The current element being processed in the array.
currentIndex
- The index of the current element being processed in the array. Starts at index 0, if an
initialValue
is provided, and at index 1 otherwise. array
- The array
reduce
was called upon.
initialValue
- Optional. Value to use as the first argument to the first call of the
callback
.
Return value
The value that results from the reduction.
Description
reduce
executes the callback
function once for each element present in the array, excluding holes in the array, receiving four arguments:
previousValue
currentValue
currentIndex
array
The first time the callback is called, previousValue
and currentValue
can be one of two values. If initialValue
is provided in the call to reduce
, then previousValue
will be equal to initialValue
and currentValue
will be equal to the first value in the array. If no initialValue
was provided, then previousValue
will be equal to the first value in the array and currentValue
will be equal to the second.
Note: If initialValue
isn't provided, reduce will execute the callback function starting at index 1, skipping the first index. If initialValue
is provided, it will start at index 0.
If the array is empty and no initialValue
was provided, TypeError
would be thrown. If the array has only one element (regardless of position) and no initialValue
was provided, or if initialValue
is provided but the array is empty, the solo value would be returned without calling callback
.
It is usually safer to provide an initial value because there are three possible outputs without initialValue
, as shown in the following example.
var maxCallback = ( pre, cur ) => Math.max( pre.x, cur.x ); var maxCallback2 = ( max, cur ) => Math.max( max, cur ); // reduce() without initialValue [ { x: 22 }, { x: 42 } ].reduce( maxCallback ); // 42 [ { x: 22 } ].reduce( maxCallback ); // { x: 22 } [ ].reduce( maxCallback ); // TypeError // map/reduce; better solution, also works for empty arrays [ { x: 22 }, { x: 42 } ].map( el => el.x ) .reduce( maxCallback2, -Infinity );
How reduce works
Suppose the following use of reduce
occurred:
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4].reduce(function(previousValue, currentValue, currentIndex, array) { return previousValue + currentValue; });
The callback would be invoked four times, with the arguments and return values in each call being as follows:
previousValue |
currentValue |
currentIndex |
array |
return value | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
first call | 0 |
1 |
1 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
1 |
second call | 1 |
2 |
2 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
3 |
third call | 3 |
3 |
3 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
6 |
fourth call | 6 |
4 |
4 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
10 |
The value returned by reduce
would be that of the last callback invocation (10
).
You can also provide an Arrow Function in lieu of a full function. The code below will produce the same output as the code in the block above:
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4].reduce( (prev, curr) => prev + curr );
If you were to provide an initial value as the second argument to reduce
, the result would look like this:
[0,1,2,3,4].reduce( (previousValue, currentValue, currentIndex, array) => { return previousValue + currentValue; }, 10);
previousValue |
currentValue |
currentIndex |
array |
return value | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
first call | 10 |
0 |
0 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
10 |
second call | 10 |
1 |
1 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
11 |
third call | 11 |
2 |
2 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
13 |
fourth call | 13 |
3 |
3 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
16 |
fifth call | 16 |
4 |
4 |
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4] |
20 |
The final call return value (20
) is returned as a result of the reduce function
Examples
Sum all the values of an array
var total = [0, 1, 2, 3].reduce(function(a, b) { return a + b; }, 0); // total == 6
Alternatively, written with an arrow function:
var total = [ 0, 1, 2, 3 ].reduce( ( acc, cur ) => acc + cur, 0 );
Flatten an array of arrays
var flattened = [[0, 1], [2, 3], [4, 5]].reduce(function(a, b) { return a.concat(b); }, []); // flattened is [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Polyfill
Array.prototype.reduce
was added to the ECMA-262 standard in the 5th edition; as such it may not be present in all implementations of the standard. You can work around this by inserting the following code at the beginning of your scripts, allowing use of reduce
in implementations which do not natively support it.
// Production steps of ECMA-262, Edition 5, 15.4.4.21 // Reference: http://es5.github.io/#x15.4.4.21 if (!Array.prototype.reduce) { Array.prototype.reduce = function(callback /*, initialValue*/) { 'use strict'; if (this === null) { throw new TypeError('Array.prototype.reduce called on null or undefined'); } if (typeof callback !== 'function') { throw new TypeError(callback + ' is not a function'); } var t = Object(this), len = t.length >>> 0, k = 0, value; if (arguments.length == 2) { value = arguments[1]; } else { while (k < len && !(k in t)) { k++; } if (k >= len) { throw new TypeError('Reduce of empty array with no initial value'); } value = t[k++]; } for (; k < len; k++) { if (k in t) { value = callback(value, t[k], k, t); } } return value; }; }
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
ECMAScript 5.1 (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Array.prototype.reduce' in that specification. |
Standard | Initial definition. Implemented in JavaScript 1.8. |
ECMAScript 2015 (6th Edition, ECMA-262) The definition of 'Array.prototype.reduce' in that specification. |
Standard | |
ECMAScript 2017 Draft (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Array.prototype.reduce' in that specification. |
Draft |
Browser compatibility
Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | (Yes) | 3.0 (1.9) | 9 | 10.5 | 4.0 |
Feature | Android | Chrome for Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
See also
License
© 2016 Mozilla Contributors
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-us/docs/web/javascript/reference/global_objects/array/reduce