Merging Arrays in JavaScript: A Comprehensive Guide

Greetings, developers! Merging arrays can be a common task in JavaScript—specifically, appending one array to another. We’ll merge all the ways of array concatenation in this post 😉.

Before we dive into the methods of appending arrays, lets understand what is concatenation. Concatenation involves combining two or more arrays to create a new array.And in JavaScript, we have so many tools to achieve this.

Using Spread Syntax

Beginning with spread syntax (…), this syntax creates a shallow copy of an array and doesn’t alter the originals:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

const combinedArray = [...arr1, ...arr2];
// Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

console.log(arr1); // [1, 2, 3] (unchanged)
console.log(arr2); // [4, 5, 6] (unchanged)

Using Array.concat()

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

const combinedArray = arr1.concat(arr2);
// Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

The concat() method is a classic choice for array concatenation. It creates a new array by combining the elements of existing arrays:

Using Array.push()

While commonly used to add elements to the end of an array, push() can also be utilized for array concatenation:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

arr1.push(...arr2);
// arr1 is now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Using While Loop

For those who enjoy a bit of looping magic, a while loop can elegantly append one array to another:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

let i = 0;
while (i < arr2.length) {
  arr1.push(arr2[i]);
  i++;
}
// arr1 is now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Using Array.forEach():

Using the power of functional programming, forEach() provides a concise way to iterate over elements and append one array to another:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

arr2.forEach(element => arr1.push(element));
// arr1 is now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

This method excels in scenarios where you want to toggle a class on and off, catering to features like light/dark mode switches.

Using for…of Loop

The for…of loop simplifies the process, offering a clean and readable approach to merge arrays:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

for (const element of arr2) {
  arr1.push(element);
}
// arr1 is now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Using for Loop

For those who appreciate the classic for loop, it remains a reliable choice for appending arrays:

const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = [4, 5, 6];

for (let i = 0; i < arr2.length; i++) {
  arr1.push(arr2[i]);
}
// arr1 is now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

🧪Practice Coding Problem: Array Merge

In the spirit of Test Driven Development ( 😁), lets test our understanding by solving a problem.

You are given two arrays, arr1 and arr2, each containing integers. Your task is to merge these arrays into a new array, mergedArray, by alternating elements from each array. The resulting array should maintain the order of elements from both arrays.

Write a function mergeArrays to accomplish this task. The function should take two arrays as input and return the merged array.

JavaScript

function mergeArrays(arr1, arr2) {
// > > > 👉 Write code here 👈 < < <
}


const arr1 = [1, 2, 3];
const arr2 = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

const mergedArray = mergeArrays(arr1, arr2);
console.log(mergedArray);
// Output: [1, 'a', 2, 'b', 3, 'c']

Constraints:
– The input arrays, arr1 and arr2, will have lengths between 1 and 1000.
– The elements of the arrays can be integers, strings, or a mix of both.

function mergeArrays(arr1, arr2) {
  const mergedArray = [];
  const maxLength = Math.max(arr1.length, arr2.length);

  for (let i = 0; i < maxLength; i++) {
    if (i < arr1.length) {
      mergedArray.push(arr1[i]);
    }
    if (i < arr2.length) {
      mergedArray.push(arr2[i]);
    }
  }

  return mergedArray;
}

Hope you never break up with Javascript arrays, as you know how to get “pushy” too, and will concatenate the hell out of arrays, anytime ! 😄 Keep coding 💻 🚀