Transposing a 2D-array in JavaScript

Question

I\'ve got an array of arrays, something like:

[
    [1,2,3],
    [1,2,3],
    [1,2,3],
]

I would like to transpose it to get the following

Answer 1

here is my implementation in modern browser (without dependency):

transpose = m => m[0].map((x,i) => m.map(x => x[i]))

Answer 2

I didn't find an answer that satisfied me, so I wrote one myself, I think it is easy to understand and implement and suitable for all situations.

    transposeArray: function (mat) {
        let newMat = [];
        for (let j = 0; j < mat[0].length; j++) {  // j are columns
            let temp = [];
            for (let i = 0; i < mat.length; i++) {  // i are rows
                temp.push(mat[i][j]);  // so temp will be the j(th) column in mat
            }
            newMat.push(temp);  // then just push every column in newMat
        }
        return newMat;
    }

Answer 3

If you have an option of using Ramda JS and ES6 syntax, then here's another way to do it:

const transpose = a => R.map(c => R.map(r => r[c], a), R.keys(a[0]));

console.log(transpose([
  [1, 2, 3, 4],
  [5, 6, 7, 8],
  [9, 10, 11, 12]
])); // =>  [[1,5,9],[2,6,10],[3,7,11],[4,8,12]]

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/ramda/0.22.1/ramda.min.js"></script>

Answer 4

Since nobody so far mentioned a functional recursive approach here is my take. An adaptation of Haskell's Data.List.transpose.

var transpose = as => as.length ? as[0].length ? [ as.reduce( (rs,a) => a.length ? ( rs.push(a[0])
                                                                                   , rs
                                                                                   )
                                                                                 : rs
                                                            , []
                                                            )
                                                 , ...transpose(as.map(a => a.slice(1)))
                                                 ]
                                               : transpose(as.slice(1))
                                : [],
    mtx       = [[1], [1, 2], [1, 2, 3]];

console.log(transpose(mtx))

.as-console-wrapper {
  max-height: 100% !important
}

Answer 5

If using RamdaJS is an option, this can be achieved in one line: R.transpose(myArray)

Answer 6

I think this is slightly more readable. It uses Array.from and logic is identical to using nested loops:

var arr = [
  [1, 2, 3, 4],
  [1, 2, 3, 4],
  [1, 2, 3, 4]
];

/*
 * arr[0].length = 4 = number of result rows
 * arr.length = 3 = number of result cols
 */

var result = Array.from({ length: arr[0].length }, function(x, row) {
  return Array.from({ length: arr.length }, function(x, col) {
    return arr[col][row];
  });
});

console.log(result);

If you are dealing with arrays of unequal length you need to replace arr[0].length with something else:

var arr = [
  [1, 2],
  [1, 2, 3],
  [1, 2, 3, 4]
];

/*
 * arr[0].length = 4 = number of result rows
 * arr.length = 3 = number of result cols
 */

var result = Array.from({ length: arr.reduce(function(max, item) { return item.length > max ? item.length : max; }, 0) }, function(x, row) {
  return Array.from({ length: arr.length }, function(x, col) {
    return arr[col][row];
  });
});

console.log(result);