Count unique elements in array without sorting

Question

In JavaScript the following will find the number of elements in the array. Assuming there to be a minimum of one element in the array

arr = [\"jam\", \"beef\         


        

Answer 1

Same as this solution, but less code.

let counts = {};
arr.forEach(el => counts[el] = 1  + (counts[el] || 0))

Answer 2

A quick way to do this is to copy the unique elements into an Object.

var counts = {};
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
    counts[arr[i]] = 1 + (counts[arr[i]] || 0);
}

When this loop is complete the counts object will have the count of each distinct element of the array.

Answer 3

This expression gives you all the unique elements in the array without mutating it:

arr.filter(function(v,i) { return i==arr.lastIndexOf(v); })

You can chain it with this expression to build your string of results without sorting:

.forEach(function(v) {
     results+=v+" --> " + arr.filter(function(w){return w==v;}).length + " times\n";
});

In the first case the filter takes only includes the last of each specific element; in the second case the filter includes all the elements of that type, and .length gives the count.

Answer 4

Why not something like:

var arr = ["jam", "beef", "cream", "jam"]
var uniqs = arr.reduce((acc, val) => {
  acc[val] = acc[val] === undefined ? 1 : acc[val] += 1;
  return acc;
}, {});
console.log(uniqs)

Pure Javascript, runs in O(n). Doesn't consume much space either unless your number of unique values equals number of elements (all the elements are unique).

Answer 5

The fast way to do this is with a new Set() object.

Sets are awesome and we should use them more often. They are fast, and supported by Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and node.js.
— What is faster Set or Object? by Andrei Kashcha

The items in a Set will always be unique, as it only keeps one copy of each value you put in. Here's a function that uses this property:

function countUnique(iterable) {
  return new Set(iterable).size;
}

console.log(countUnique('banana')); //=> 3
console.log(countUnique([5,6,5,6])); //=> 2
console.log(countUnique([window, document, window])); //=> 2

This can be used to count the items in any iterable (including an Array, String, TypedArray, and arguments object).