Take the content of an array and return a single value. That value can be anything: a string, number, object, or even another array.
The Array.reduce() method accepts two arguments: a callback method to run against each item in the array, and a starting value.
The callback also accepts two arguments: the accumulator, which is the current combined value, and the current item in the loop. Whatever you return is used as the accumulator for the next item in the loop. On the very first loop, that starting value is used instead.
/**
* Add all of the numbers in an array
*/
var total = [1, 2, 3].reduce(function (sum, current) {
return sum + current;
}, 0);
// logs 6
console.log(total);
/**
* Create a new array with only the names of wizards in Huffepuff
*/
var wizards = [
{
name: 'Harry Potter',
house: 'Gryfindor'
},
{
name: 'Cedric Diggory',
house: 'Hufflepuff'
},
{
name: 'Tonks',
house: 'Hufflepuff'
},
{
name: 'Ronald Weasley',
house: 'Gryfindor'
},
{
name: 'Hermione Granger',
house: 'Gryfindor'
}
];
// This combines what you would otherwise do with map() and filter() into one step
var hufflepuff = wizards.reduce(function (newArr, wizard) {
if (wizard.house === 'Hufflepuff') {
newArr.push(wizard.name);
}
return newArr;
}, []);
// logs ["Cedric Diggory", "Tonks"]
console.log(hufflepuff);