Does JavaScript have a method like “range()” to generate a range within the supplied bounds?

Question

In PHP, you can do...

range(1, 3); // Array(1, 2, 3)
range(\"A\", \"C\"); // Array(\"A\", \"B\", \"C\")

That is, there is a function that l

Answer 1

... more range, using a generator function.

function range(s, e, str){
  // create generator that handles numbers & strings.
  function *gen(s, e, str){
    while(s <= e){
      yield (!str) ? s : str[s]
      s++
    }
  }
  if (typeof s === 'string' && !str)
    str = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
  const from = (!str) ? s : str.indexOf(s)
  const to = (!str) ? e : str.indexOf(e)
  // use the generator and return.
  return [...gen(from, to, str)]
}

// usage ...
console.log(range('l', 'w'))
//=> [ 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v', 'w' ]

console.log(range(7, 12))
//=> [ 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ]

// first 'o' to first 't' of passed in string.
console.log(range('o', 't', "ssshhhooooouuut!!!!"))
// => [ 'o', 'o', 'o', 'o', 'o', 'u', 'u', 'u', 't' ]

// only lowercase args allowed here, but ...
console.log(range('m', 'v').map(v=>v.toUpperCase()))
//=> [ 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V' ]

// => and decreasing range ...
console.log(range('m', 'v').map(v=>v.toUpperCase()).reverse())

// => ... and with a step
console.log(range('m', 'v')
          .map(v=>v.toUpperCase())
          .reverse()
          .reduce((acc, c, i) => (i % 2) ? acc.concat(c) : acc, []))

// ... etc, etc.

Hope this is useful.

Answer 2

For numbers you can use ES6 Array.from(), which works in everything these days except IE:

Shorter version:

Array.from({length: 20}, (x, i) => i);

Longer version:

Array.from(new Array(20), (x, i) => i);​​​​​​

which creates an array from 0 to 19 inclusive. This can be further shortened to one of these forms:

Array.from(Array(20).keys());
// or
[...Array(20).keys()];

Lower and upper bounds can be specified too, for example:

Array.from(new Array(20), (x, i) => i + *lowerBound*);

An article describing this in more detail: http://www.2ality.com/2014/05/es6-array-methods.html

Answer 3

Array.range = function(a, b, step){
    var A = [];
    if(typeof a == 'number'){
        A[0] = a;
        step = step || 1;
        while(a+step <= b){
            A[A.length]= a+= step;
        }
    }
    else {
        var s = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz';
        if(a === a.toUpperCase()){
            b = b.toUpperCase();
            s = s.toUpperCase();
        }
        s = s.substring(s.indexOf(a), s.indexOf(b)+ 1);
        A = s.split('');        
    }
    return A;
}
    
    
Array.range(0,10);
// [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
    
Array.range(-100,100,20);
// [-100,-80,-60,-40,-20,0,20,40,60,80,100]
    
Array.range('A','F');
// ['A','B','C','D','E','F')
    
Array.range('m','r');
// ['m','n','o','p','q','r']

Answer 4

The standard Javascript doesn't have a built-in function to generate ranges. Several javascript frameworks add support for such features, or as others have pointed out you can always roll your own.

If you'd like to double-check, the definitive resource is the ECMA-262 Standard.

Answer 5

My codegolfing coworker came up with this (ES6), inclusive:

(s,f)=>[...Array(f-s+1)].map((e,i)=>i+s)

non inclusive:

(s,f)=>[...Array(f-s)].map((e,i)=>i+s)

Answer 6

Complete ES6 implementation using range([start, ]stop[, step]) signature:

function range(start, stop, step=1){
  if(!stop){stop=start;start=0;}
  return Array.from(new Array(int((stop-start)/step)), (x,i) => start+ i*step)
}

If you want automatic negative stepping, add

if(stop<start)step=-Math.abs(step)

Or more minimalistically:

range=(b, e, step=1)=>{
  if(!e){e=b;b=0}
  return Array.from(new Array(int((e-b)/step)), (_,i) => b<e? b+i*step : b-i*step)
}

If you have huge ranges look at Paolo Moretti's generator approach