For loop in multidimensional javascript array

Question

Since now, I\'m using this loop to iterate over the elements of an array, which works fine even if I put objects with various properties inside of it.

var cu         


        

Answer 1

var cubes = [["string", "string"], ["string", "string"]];

for(var i = 0; i < cubes.length; i++) {
    for(var j = 0; j < cubes[i].length; j++) {
        console.log(cubes[i][j]);
    }
}

Answer 2

If you're using ES2015 and you want to define your own object that iterates like a 2-D array, you can implement the iterator protocol by:

1. Defining an @@iterator function called Symbol.iterator which returns...
2. ...an object with a next() function that returns...
3. ...an object with one or two properties: an optional value with the next value (if there is one) and a boolean done which is true if we're done iterating.

A one-dimensional array iterator function would look like this:

// our custom Cubes object which implements the iterable protocol
function Cubes() {
    this.cubes = [1, 2, 3, 4];
    this.numVals = this.cubes.length;

    // assign a function to the property Symbol.iterator
    // which is a special property that the spread operator
    // and for..of construct both search for
    this[Symbol.iterator] = function () { // can't take args

        var index = -1; // keep an internal count of our index
        var self = this; // access vars/methods in object scope

        // the @@iterator method must return an object
        // with a "next()" property, which will be called
        // implicitly to get the next value
        return {
            // next() must return an object with a "done" 
            // (and optionally also a "value") property
            next: function() {
                index++;
                // if there's still some values, return next one
                if (index < self.numVals) {
                    return {
                        value: self.cubes[index],
                        done: false
                    };
                }
                // else there's no more values left, so we're done
                // IF YOU FORGET THIS YOU WILL LOOP FOREVER!
                return {done: true}
            }
        };
    };
}

Now, we can treat our Cubes object like an iterable:

var cube = new Cubes(); // construct our cube object

// both call Symbol.iterator function implicitly:
console.log([...cube]); // spread operator
for (var value of cube) { // for..of construct
    console.log(value);
}

To create our own 2-D iterable, instead of returning a value in our next() function, we can return another iterable:

function Cubes() {
    this.cubes = [
        [1, 2, 3, 4],
        [5, 6, 7, 8],
        [9, 10, 11, 12],
    ];
    this.numRows = this.cubes.length;
    this.numCols = this.cubes[0].length; // assumes all rows have same length

    this[Symbol.iterator] = function () {
        var row = -1;
        var self = this;

        // create a closure that returns an iterator
        // on the captured row index
        function createColIterator(currentRow) {
            var col = -1;
            var colIterator = {}
            // column iterator implements iterable protocol
            colIterator[Symbol.iterator] = function() {
                return {next: function() {
                    col++;
                    if (col < self.numCols) {
                        // return raw value
                        return {
                            value: self.cubes[currentRow][col],
                            done: false
                        };
                    }
                    return {done: true};
                }};
            }
            return colIterator;
        }

        return {next: function() {
            row++;
            if (row < self.numRows) {
                // instead of a value, return another iterator
                return {
                    value: createColIterator(row),
                    done: false
                };
            }
            return {done: true}
        }};
    };
}

Now, we can use nested iteration:

var cube = new Cubes();

// spread operator returns list of iterators, 
// each of which can be spread to get values
var rows = [...cube];
console.log([...rows[0]]);
console.log([...rows[1]]);
console.log([...rows[2]]);

// use map to apply spread operator to each iterable
console.log([...cube].map(function(iterator) { 
    return [...iterator];
}));

for (var row of cube) {
    for (var value of row) {
        console.log(value);
    }
}

Note that our custom iterable won't behave like a 2-D array in all cases; for example, we haven't implemented a map() function. This answer shows how you could implement a generator map function (see here for the difference between iterators and generators; also, generators are an ES2016 feature, not ES2015, so you'll need to change your babel presets if you're compiling with babel).