Find the index of the longest array in an array of arrays

Question

If you have an array containing an indefinite amount of arrays

ex:

var masterArray = [ [1,2,3,4,5],
                    [1,2], 
                    [1,1,         


        

Answer 1

A reducer iterates the array of arrays, where the accumulator represents the index of the longest array, starting with index 0.

For each iteration, the current item's (array) length is compared to the length of the currently longest array found (arrays[acc]) and if greater, the accumulator is set to that index.

var arrays = [ 
  [1,1,1,1,1],
  [1,1], 
  [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],   // ⬅ The longest, which is at index 2
  [1,1,1,1],
  [1,1,1,1,1,1]
]

var indexOfLongestArray = arrays.reduce((acc, arr, idx) => {
  console.log(acc, idx, JSON.stringify([arr, arrays[acc]]))
  return arr.length > arrays[acc].length ? idx : acc
}, 0)

// print result:
console.log( "longest array is at index: ", indexOfLongestArray )

Short function:

var indexOfLongestArray = list => list.reduce((a, arr, idx) => 
  arr.length > arrays[a].length ? idx : a
, 0)

Answer 2

One-liner is:

masterArray
  .map(a=>a.length)
  .indexOf(Math.max(...masterArray.map(a=>a.length)));

But better to cache masterArray.map(a=>a.length) results.

const lengths = masterArray.map(a=>a.length);
lengths.indexOf(Math.max(...lengths));

Note, this code still iterate array at least* 3 times(map, max, indexOf separately).

*Spread operator is for readability and can be omitted

---

For more efficiency you should manual iterate array.

let max = -Infinity;
let index = -1;
masterArray.forEach(function(a, i){
  if (a.length > max) {
    max = a.length;
    index = i;
  }
});

---

Reduce method:

masterArray.reduce((maxI,el,i,arr) => 
    (el.length>arr[maxI].length) ? i : maxI, 0);