javascript - remove objects from array by object property

Question

var listToDelete = ['abc', 'efg'];

var arrayOfObjects = [{id:'abc',name:'oh'}, // delete me
                      {id:'efg',name:'em'}, // delete me
                      {id:'hij',name:'ge'}] // all that should remain

How do I remove an object from the array by matching object property?

Only native JavaScript please.

I am having trouble using splice because length diminishes with each deletion. Using clone and splicing on orignal index still leaves you with the problem of diminishing length.

Answer 1

I assume you used splice something like this?

for (var i = 0; i < arrayOfObjects.length; i++) {
    var obj = arrayOfObjects[i];

    if (listToDelete.indexOf(obj.id) !== -1) {
        arrayOfObjects.splice(i, 1);
    }
}

All you need to do to fix the bug is decrement i for the next time around, then (and looping backwards is also an option):

for (var i = 0; i < arrayOfObjects.length; i++) {
    var obj = arrayOfObjects[i];

    if (listToDelete.indexOf(obj.id) !== -1) {
        arrayOfObjects.splice(i, 1);
        i--;
    }
}

To avoid linear-time deletions, you can write array elements you want to keep over the array:

var end = 0;

for (var i = 0; i < arrayOfObjects.length; i++) {
    var obj = arrayOfObjects[i];

    if (listToDelete.indexOf(obj.id) === -1) {
        arrayOfObjects[end++] = obj;
    }
}

arrayOfObjects.length = end;

and to avoid linear-time lookups in a modern runtime, you can use a hash set:

const setToDelete = new Set(listToDelete);
let end = 0;

for (let i = 0; i < arrayOfObjects.length; i++) {
    const obj = arrayOfObjects[i];

    if (setToDelete.has(obj.id)) {
        arrayOfObjects[end++] = obj;
    }
}

arrayOfObjects.length = end;

which can be wrapped up in a nice function:

const filterInPlace = (array, predicate) => {
    let end = 0;

    for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
        const obj = array[i];

        if (predicate(obj)) {
            array[end++] = obj;
        }
    }

    array.length = end;
};

const toDelete = new Set(['abc', 'efg']);

const arrayOfObjects = [{id: 'abc', name: 'oh'},
                        {id: 'efg', name: 'em'},
                        {id: 'hij', name: 'ge'}];

filterInPlace(arrayOfObjects, obj => !toDelete.has(obj.id));
console.log(arrayOfObjects);