How to check if two arrays are equal with JavaScript? [duplicate]

Answer 1

With JavaScript version 1.6 it's as easy as this:

Array.prototype.equals = function( array ) {
  return this.length == array.length && 
         this.every( function(this_i,i) { return this_i == array[i] } )  
  }

For example, [].equals([]) gives true, while [1,2,3].equals( [1,3,2] ) yields false.

Answer 2

This method sucks, but I've left it here for reference so others avoid this path:

---

Using Option 1 from @ninjagecko worked best for me:

Array.prototype.equals = function(array) {
    return array instanceof Array && JSON.stringify(this) === JSON.stringify(array) ;
}

a = [1, [2, 3]]
a.equals([[1, 2], 3]) // false
a.equals([1, [2, 3]]) // true

It will also handle the null and undefined case, since we're adding this to the prototype of array and checking that the other argument is also an array.

Answer 3

Check every each value by a for loop once you checked the size of the array.

function equalArray(a, b) {
    if (a.length === b.length) {
        for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
            if (a[i] !== b[i]) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

Answer 4

jQuery has such method for deep recursive comparison.

A homegrown general purpose strict equality check could look as follows:

function deepEquals(obj1, obj2, parents1, parents2) {
    "use strict";
    var i;
    // compare null and undefined
    if (obj1 === undefined || obj2 === undefined || 
        obj1 === null || obj2 === null) {
        return obj1 === obj2;
    }

    // compare primitives
    if (typeof (obj1) !== 'object' || typeof (obj2) !== 'object') {
        return obj1.valueOf() === obj2.valueOf();
    }

    // if objects are of different types or lengths they can't be equal
    if (obj1.constructor !== obj2.constructor || (obj1.length !== undefined && obj1.length !== obj2.length)) {
        return false;
    }

    // iterate the objects
    for (i in obj1) {
        // build the parents list for object on the left (obj1)
        if (parents1 === undefined) parents1 = [];
        if (obj1.constructor === Object) parents1.push(obj1);
        // build the parents list for object on the right (obj2)
        if (parents2 === undefined) parents2 = [];
        if (obj2.constructor === Object) parents2.push(obj2);
        // walk through object properties
        if (obj1.propertyIsEnumerable(i)) {
            if (obj2.propertyIsEnumerable(i)) {
                // if object at i was met while going down here
                // it's a self reference
                if ((obj1[i].constructor === Object && parents1.indexOf(obj1[i]) >= 0) || (obj2[i].constructor === Object && parents2.indexOf(obj2[i]) >= 0)) {
                    if (obj1[i] !== obj2[i]) {
                        return false;
                    }
                    continue;
                }
                // it's not a self reference so we are here
                if (!deepEquals(obj1[i], obj2[i], parents1, parents2)) {
                    return false;
                }
            } else {
                // obj2[i] does not exist
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
    return true;
};

Tests:

// message is displayed on failure
// clean console === all tests passed
function assertTrue(cond, msg) {
    if (!cond) {
        console.log(msg);
    }
}

var a = 'sdf',
    b = 'sdf';
assertTrue(deepEquals(b, a), 'Strings are equal.');
b = 'dfs';
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Strings are not equal.');
a = 9;
b = 9;
assertTrue(deepEquals(b, a), 'Numbers are equal.');
b = 3;
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Numbers are not equal.');
a = false;
b = false;
assertTrue(deepEquals(b, a), 'Booleans are equal.');
b = true;
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Booleans are not equal.');
a = null;
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Boolean is not equal to null.');
a = function () {
    return true;
};
assertTrue(deepEquals(
[
    [1, 1, 1],
    [2, 'asdf', [1, a]],
    [3, {
        'a': 1.0
    },
    true]
], 
[
    [1, 1, 1],
    [2, 'asdf', [1, a]],
    [3, {
        'a': 1.0
    },
    true]
]), 'Arrays are equal.');
assertTrue(!deepEquals(
[
    [1, 1, 1],
    [2, 'asdf', [1, a]],
    [3, {
        'a': 1.0
    },
    true]
],
[
    [1, 1, 1],
    [2, 'asdf', [1, a]],
    [3, {
        'a': '1'
    },
    true]
]), 'Arrays are not equal.');
a = {
    prop: 'val'
};
a.self = a;
b = {
    prop: 'val'
};
b.self = a;
assertTrue(deepEquals(b, a), 'Immediate self referencing objects are equal.');
a.prop = 'shmal';
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Immediate self referencing objects are not equal.');
a = {
    prop: 'val',
    inside: {}
};
a.inside.self = a;
b = {
    prop: 'val',
    inside: {}
};
b.inside.self = a;
assertTrue(deepEquals(b, a), 'Deep self referencing objects are equal.');
b.inside.self = b;
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Deep self referencing objects are not equeal. Not the same instance.');
b.inside.self = {foo: 'bar'};
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Deep self referencing objects are not equal. Completely different object.');
a = {};
b = {};
a.self = a;
b.self = {};
assertTrue(!deepEquals(b, a), 'Empty object and self reference of an empty object.');

Answer 5

This is what you should do. Please do not use stringify nor < >.

function arraysEqual(a, b) {
  if (a === b) return true;
  if (a == null || b == null) return false;
  if (a.length !== b.length) return false;

  // If you don't care about the order of the elements inside
  // the array, you should sort both arrays here.
  // Please note that calling sort on an array will modify that array.
  // you might want to clone your array first.

  for (var i = 0; i < a.length; ++i) {
    if (a[i] !== b[i]) return false;
  }
  return true;
}

Answer 6

It handle all possible stuff and even reference itself in structure of object. You can see the example at the end of code.

var deepCompare = (function() {
    function internalDeepCompare (obj1, obj2, objects) {
        var i, objPair;

        if (obj1 === obj2) {
            return true;
        }

        i = objects.length;
        while (i--) {
            objPair = objects[i];
            if (  (objPair.obj1 === obj1 && objPair.obj2 === obj2) ||
                  (objPair.obj1 === obj2 && objPair.obj2 === obj1)  ) {                          
                return true;
            }                    
        }
        objects.push({obj1: obj1, obj2: obj2});

        if (obj1 instanceof Array) {
            if (!(obj2 instanceof Array)) {
                return false;
            }

            i = obj1.length;

            if (i !== obj2.length) {
               return false; 
            }

            while (i--) {
                if (!internalDeepCompare(obj1[i], obj2[i], objects)) {
                    return false;
                }
            }
        }
        else {
            switch (typeof obj1) {
                case "object":                
                    // deal with null
                    if (!(obj2 && obj1.constructor === obj2.constructor)) {
                        return false;
                    }

                    if (obj1 instanceof RegExp) {
                        if (!(obj2 instanceof RegExp && obj1.source === obj2.source)) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }                 
                    else if (obj1 instanceof Date) {
                        if (!(obj2 instanceof Date && obj1.getTime() === obj2.getTime())) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    } 
                    else {    
                        for (i in obj1) {
                            if (obj1.hasOwnProperty(i)) {       
                                if (!(obj2.hasOwnProperty(i) && internalDeepCompare(obj1[i], obj2[i], objects))) {
                                    return false;
                                }
                            }
                        }         
                    }
                    break;
                case "function": 
                    if (!(typeof obj2 === "function" && obj1+"" === obj2+"")) {
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;
                default:                 //deal with NaN 
                    if (obj1 !== obj2 && obj1 === obj1 && obj2 === obj2) {
                        return false;            
                    }
            }
        }

        return true;
    }

    return function (obj1, obj2) {
        return internalDeepCompare(obj1, obj2, []);    
    };
}());

/*    
var a = [a, undefined, new Date(10), /.+/, {a:2}, function(){}, Infinity, -Infinity, NaN, 0, -0, 1, [4,5], "1", "-1", "a", null],
    b = [b, undefined, new Date(10), /.+/, {a:2}, function(){}, Infinity, -Infinity, NaN, 0, -0, 1, [4,5], "1", "-1", "a", null];
deepCompare(a, b);
*/