Move an array element from one array position to another

Question

I\'m having a hard time figuring out how to move an array element. For example, given the following:

var arr = [ \'a\', \'b\', \'c\', \'d\', \'e\'];
<         


        

Answer 1

I've implemented an immutable ECMAScript 6 solution based off of @Merc's answer over here:

const moveItemInArrayFromIndexToIndex = (array, fromIndex, toIndex) => {
  if (fromIndex === toIndex) return array;

  const newArray = [...array];

  const target = newArray[fromIndex];
  const inc = toIndex < fromIndex ? -1 : 1;

  for (let i = fromIndex; i !== toIndex; i += inc) {
    newArray[i] = newArray[i + inc];
  }

  newArray[toIndex] = target;

  return newArray;
};

The variable names can be shortened, just used long ones so that the code can explain itself.

Answer 2

Immutable version without array copy:

const moveInArray = (arr, fromIndex, toIndex) => {
  if (toIndex === fromIndex || toIndex >= arr.length) return arr;

  const toMove = arr[fromIndex];
  const movedForward = fromIndex < toIndex;

  return arr.reduce((res, next, index) => {
    if (index === fromIndex) return res;
    if (index === toIndex) return res.concat(
      movedForward ? [next, toMove] : [toMove, next]
    );

    return res.concat(next);
  }, []);
};

Answer 3

Here is my one liner ES6 solution with an optional parameter on.

if (typeof Array.prototype.move === "undefined") {
  Array.prototype.move = function(from, to, on = 1) {
    this.splice(to, 0, ...this.splice(from, on))
  }
}

Adaptation of the first solution proposed by digiguru

The parameter on is the number of element starting from from you want to move.

Answer 4

This is a really simple method using splice

Array.prototype.moveToStart = function(index) {
    this.splice(0, 0, this.splice(index, 1)[0]);
    return this;
  };

Answer 5

    Array.prototype.moveUp = function (value, by) {
        var index = this.indexOf(value),
            newPos = index - (by || 1);

        if (index === -1)
            throw new Error("Element not found in array");

        if (newPos < 0)
            newPos = 0;

        this.splice(index, 1);
        this.splice(newPos, 0, value);
    };

    Array.prototype.moveDown = function (value, by) {
        var index = this.indexOf(value),
            newPos = index + (by || 1);

        if (index === -1)
            throw new Error("Element not found in array");

        if (newPos >= this.length)
            newPos = this.length;

        this.splice(index, 1);
        this.splice(newPos, 0, value);
    };



    var arr = ['banana', 'curyWurst', 'pc', 'remembaHaruMembaru'];

    alert('withiout changes= '+arr[0]+' ||| '+arr[1]+' ||| '+arr[2]+' ||| '+arr[3]);
    arr.moveDown(arr[2]);


    alert('third word moved down= '+arr[0] + ' ||| ' + arr[1] + ' ||| ' + arr[2] + ' ||| ' + arr[3]);
    arr.moveUp(arr[2]);
    alert('third word moved up= '+arr[0] + ' ||| ' + arr[1] + ' ||| ' + arr[2] + ' ||| ' + arr[3]);

http://plnkr.co/edit/JaiAaO7FQcdPGPY6G337?p=preview

Answer 6

It is stated in many places (adding custom functions into Array.prototype) playing with the Array prototype could be a bad idea, anyway I combined the best from various posts, I came with this, using modern Javascript:

    Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'immutableMove', {
        enumerable: false,
        value: function (old_index, new_index) {
            var copy = Object.assign([], this)
            if (new_index >= copy.length) {
                var k = new_index - copy.length;
                while ((k--) + 1) { copy.push(undefined); }
            }
            copy.splice(new_index, 0, copy.splice(old_index, 1)[0]);
            return copy
        }
    });

    //how to use it
    myArray=[0, 1, 2, 3, 4];
    myArray=myArray.immutableMove(2, 4);
    console.log(myArray);
    //result: 0, 1, 3, 4, 2

Hope can be useful to anyone