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

reverseValues(values) {
        let maxLength = values.reduce((acc, val) => Math.max(val.length, acc), 0);
        return [...Array(maxLength)].map((val, index) => values.map((v) => v[index]));
}

Answer 2

You could use underscore.js

_.zip.apply(_, [[1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]])

Answer 3

function invertArray(array,arrayWidth,arrayHeight) {
  var newArray = [];
  for (x=0;x<arrayWidth;x++) {
    newArray[x] = [];
    for (y=0;y<arrayHeight;y++) {
        newArray[x][y] = array[y][x];
    }
  }
  return newArray;
}

Answer 4

ES6 1liners as :

let invert = a => a[0].map((col, c) => a.map((row, r) => a[r][c]))

so same as Óscar's, but as would you rather rotate it clockwise :

let rotate = a => a[0].map((col, c) => a.map((row, r) => a[r][c]).reverse())

Answer 5

You can achieve this without loops by using the following.

• Array
• Array.prototype.map
• Array.prototype.reduce
• Array.prototype.join
• String.prototype.split

It looks very elegant and it does not require any dependencies such as jQuery of Underscore.js.

function transpose(matrix) {  
    return zeroFill(getMatrixWidth(matrix)).map(function(r, i) {
        return zeroFill(matrix.length).map(function(c, j) {
            return matrix[j][i];
        });
    });
}

function getMatrixWidth(matrix) {
    return matrix.reduce(function (result, row) {
        return Math.max(result, row.length);
    }, 0);
}

function zeroFill(n) {
    return new Array(n+1).join('0').split('').map(Number);
}

Minified

function transpose(m){return zeroFill(m.reduce(function(m,r){return Math.max(m,r.length)},0)).map(function(r,i){return zeroFill(m.length).map(function(c,j){return m[j][i]})})}function zeroFill(n){return new Array(n+1).join("0").split("").map(Number)}

---

Here is a demo I threw together. Notice the lack of loops :-)

// Create a 5 row, by 9 column matrix.
var m = CoordinateMatrix(5, 9);

// Make the matrix an irregular shape.
m[2] = m[2].slice(0, 5);
m[4].pop();

// Transpose and print the matrix.
println(formatMatrix(transpose(m)));

function Matrix(rows, cols, defaultVal) {
    return AbstractMatrix(rows, cols, function(r, i) {
        return arrayFill(cols, defaultVal);
    });
}
function ZeroMatrix(rows, cols) {
    return AbstractMatrix(rows, cols, function(r, i) {
        return zeroFill(cols);
    });
}
function CoordinateMatrix(rows, cols) {
    return AbstractMatrix(rows, cols, function(r, i) {
        return zeroFill(cols).map(function(c, j) {
            return [i, j];
        });
    });
}
function AbstractMatrix(rows, cols, rowFn) {
    return zeroFill(rows).map(function(r, i) {
        return rowFn(r, i);
    });
}
/** Matrix functions. */
function formatMatrix(matrix) {
    return matrix.reduce(function (result, row) {
        return result + row.join('\t') + '\n';
    }, '');
}
function copy(matrix) {  
    return zeroFill(matrix.length).map(function(r, i) {
        return zeroFill(getMatrixWidth(matrix)).map(function(c, j) {
            return matrix[i][j];
        });
    });
}
function transpose(matrix) {  
    return zeroFill(getMatrixWidth(matrix)).map(function(r, i) {
        return zeroFill(matrix.length).map(function(c, j) {
            return matrix[j][i];
        });
    });
}
function getMatrixWidth(matrix) {
    return matrix.reduce(function (result, row) {
        return Math.max(result, row.length);
    }, 0);
}
/** Array fill functions. */
function zeroFill(n) {
  return new Array(n+1).join('0').split('').map(Number);
}
function arrayFill(n, defaultValue) {
    return zeroFill(n).map(function(value) {
        return defaultValue || value;
    });
}
/** Print functions. */
function print(str) {
    str = Array.isArray(str) ? str.join(' ') : str;
    return document.getElementById('out').innerHTML += str || '';
}
function println(str) {
    print.call(null, [].slice.call(arguments, 0).concat(['<br />']));
}

#out {
    white-space: pre;
}

<div id="out"></div>

Answer 6

Many good answers here! I consolidated them into one answer and updated some of the code for a more modern syntax:

One-liners inspired by Fawad Ghafoor and Óscar Gómez Alcañiz

function transpose(matrix) {
  return matrix[0].map((col, i) => matrix.map(row => row[i]));
}

function transpose(matrix) {
  return matrix[0].map((col, c) => matrix.map((row, r) => matrix[r][c]));
}

Functional approach style with reduce by Andrew Tatomyr

function transpose(matrix) {
  return matrix.reduce((prev, next) => next.map((item, i) =>
    (prev[i] || []).concat(next[i])
  ), []);
}

Lodash/Underscore by marcel

function tranpose(matrix) {
  return _.zip(...matrix);
}

// Without spread operator.
function transpose(matrix) {
  return _.zip.apply(_, [[1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]])
}

Vanilla approach

function transpose(matrix) {
  const rows = matrix.length, cols = matrix[0].length;
  const grid = [];
  for (let j = 0; j < cols; j++) {
    grid[j] = Array(rows);
  }
  for (let i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
    for (let j = 0; j < cols; j++) {
      grid[j][i] = matrix[i][j];
    }
  }
  return grid;
}

Vanilla in-place ES6 approach inspired by Emanuel Saringan

function transpose(matrix) {
  for (var i = 0; i < matrix.length; i++) {
    for (var j = 0; j < i; j++) {
      const temp = matrix[i][j];
      matrix[i][j] = matrix[j][i];
      matrix[j][i] = temp;
    }
  }
}

// Using destructing
function transpose(matrix) {
  for (var i = 0; i < matrix.length; i++) {
    for (var j = 0; j < i; j++) {
      [matrix[i][j], matrix[j][i]] = [matrix[j][i], matrix[i][j]];
    }
  }
}