Simplest code for array intersection in javascript

Use a combination of Array.prototype.filter and Array.prototype.includes:

const filteredArray = array1.filter(value => array2.includes(value));

For older browsers, with Array.prototype.indexOf and without an arrow function:

var filteredArray = array1.filter(function(n) {
    return array2.indexOf(n) !== -1;
});

NB! Both .includes and .indexOf internally compares elements in the array by using ===, so if the array contains objects it will only compare object references (not their content). If you want to specify your own comparison logic, use Array.prototype.some instead.

Destructive seems simplest, especially if we can assume the input is sorted:

/* destructively finds the intersection of 
 * two arrays in a simple fashion.  
 *
 * PARAMS
 *  a - first array, must already be sorted
 *  b - second array, must already be sorted
 *
 * NOTES
 *  State of input arrays is undefined when
 *  the function returns.  They should be 
 *  (prolly) be dumped.
 *
 *  Should have O(n) operations, where n is 
 *    n = MIN(a.length, b.length)
 */
function intersection_destructive(a, b)
{
  var result = [];
  while( a.length > 0 && b.length > 0 )
  {  
     if      (a[0] < b[0] ){ a.shift(); }
     else if (a[0] > b[0] ){ b.shift(); }
     else /* they're equal */
     {
       result.push(a.shift());
       b.shift();
     }
  }

  return result;
}

Non-destructive has to be a hair more complicated, since we’ve got to track indices:

/* finds the intersection of 
 * two arrays in a simple fashion.  
 *
 * PARAMS
 *  a - first array, must already be sorted
 *  b - second array, must already be sorted
 *
 * NOTES
 *
 *  Should have O(n) operations, where n is 
 *    n = MIN(a.length(), b.length())
 */
function intersect_safe(a, b)
{
  var ai=0, bi=0;
  var result = [];

  while( ai < a.length && bi < b.length )
  {
     if      (a[ai] < b[bi] ){ ai++; }
     else if (a[ai] > b[bi] ){ bi++; }
     else /* they're equal */
     {
       result.push(a[ai]);
       ai++;
       bi++;
     }
  }

  return result;
}

Using Underscore.js or lodash.js

_.intersection( [0,345,324] , [1,0,324] )  // gives [0,324]

How about just using associative arrays?

function intersect(a, b) {
    var d1 = {};
    var d2 = {};
    var results = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
        d1[a[i]] = true;
    }
    for (var j = 0; j < b.length; j++) {
        d2[b[j]] = true;
    }
    for (var k in d1) {
        if (d2[k]) 
            results.push(k);
    }
    return results;
}

edit:

// new version
function intersect(a, b) {
    var d = {};
    var results = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < b.length; i++) {
        d[b[i]] = true;
    }
    for (var j = 0; j < a.length; j++) {
        if (d[a[j]]) 
            results.push(a[j]);
    }
    return results;
}

1. Sort it
2. check one by one from the index 0, create new array from that.

Something like this, Not tested well though.

function intersection(x,y){
 x.sort();y.sort();
 var i=j=0;ret=[];
 while(i<x.length && j<y.length){
  if(x[i]<y[j])i++;
  else if(y[j]<x[i])j++;
  else {
   ret.push(x[i]);
   i++,j++;
  }
 }
 return ret;
}

alert(intersection([1,2,3], [2,3,4,5]));

PS:The algorithm only intended for Numbers and Normal Strings, intersection of arbitary object arrays may not work.

For arrays containing only strings or numbers you can do something with sorting, as per some of the other answers. For the general case of arrays of arbitrary objects I don't think you can avoid doing it the long way. The following will give you the intersection of any number of arrays provided as parameters to arrayIntersection:

var arrayContains = Array.prototype.indexOf ?
    function(arr, val) {
        return arr.indexOf(val) > -1;
    } :
    function(arr, val) {
        var i = arr.length;
        while (i--) {
            if (arr[i] === val) {
                return true;
            }
        }
        return false;
    };

function arrayIntersection() {
    var val, arrayCount, firstArray, i, j, intersection = [], missing;
    var arrays = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments); // Convert arguments into a real array

    // Search for common values
    firstArray = arrays.pop();
    if (firstArray) {
        j = firstArray.length;
        arrayCount = arrays.length;
        while (j--) {
            val = firstArray[j];
            missing = false;

            // Check val is present in each remaining array 
            i = arrayCount;
            while (!missing && i--) {
                if ( !arrayContains(arrays[i], val) ) {
                    missing = true;
                }
            }
            if (!missing) {
                intersection.push(val);
            }
        }
    }
    return intersection;
}

arrayIntersection( [1, 2, 3, "a"], [1, "a", 2], ["a", 1] ); // Gives [1, "a"]; 

A functional approach with ES2015

A functional approach must consider using only pure functions without side effects, each of which is only concerned with a single job.

These restrictions enhance the composability and reusability of the functions involved.

// small, reusable auxiliary functions

const createSet = xs => new Set(xs);
const filter = f => xs => xs.filter(apply(f));
const apply = f => x => f(x);


// intersection

const intersect = xs => ys => {
  const zs = createSet(ys);
  return filter(x => zs.has(x)
     ? true
     : false
  ) (xs);
};


// mock data

const xs = [1,2,2,3,4,5];
const ys = [0,1,2,3,3,3,6,7,8,9];


// run it

console.log( intersect(xs) (ys) );

Please note that the native Set type is used, which has an advantageous lookup performance.

Avoid duplicates

Obviously repeatedly occurring items from the first Array are preserved, while the second Array is de-duplicated. This may be or may be not the desired behavior. If you need a unique result just apply dedupe to the first argument:

// auxiliary functions

const apply = f => x => f(x);
const comp = f => g => x => f(g(x));
const afrom = apply(Array.from);
const createSet = xs => new Set(xs);
const filter = f => xs => xs.filter(apply(f));


// intersection

const intersect = xs => ys => {
  const zs = createSet(ys);
  return filter(x => zs.has(x)
     ? true
     : false
  ) (xs);
};


// de-duplication

const dedupe = comp(afrom) (createSet);


// mock data

const xs = [1,2,2,3,4,5];
const ys = [0,1,2,3,3,3,6,7,8,9];


// unique result

console.log( intersect(dedupe(xs)) (ys) );

Compute the intersection of any number of Arrays

If you want to compute the intersection of an arbitrarily number of Arrays just compose intersect with foldl. Here is a convenience function:

// auxiliary functions

const apply = f => x => f(x);
const uncurry = f => (x, y) => f(x) (y);
const createSet = xs => new Set(xs);
const filter = f => xs => xs.filter(apply(f));
const foldl = f => acc => xs => xs.reduce(uncurry(f), acc);


// intersection

const intersect = xs => ys => {
  const zs = createSet(ys);
  return filter(x => zs.has(x)
     ? true
     : false
  ) (xs);
};


// intersection of an arbitrarily number of Arrays

const intersectn = (head, ...tail) => foldl(intersect) (head) (tail);


// mock data

const xs = [1,2,2,3,4,5];
const ys = [0,1,2,3,3,3,6,7,8,9];
const zs = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6];


// run

console.log( intersectn(xs, ys, zs) );

I have written an intesection function which can even detect intersection of array of objects based on particular property of those objects.

For instance,

if arr1 = [{id: 10}, {id: 20}]
and arr2 =  [{id: 20}, {id: 25}]

and we want intersection based on the id property, then the output should be :

[{id: 20}]

As such, the function for the same (note: ES6 code) is :

const intersect = (arr1, arr2, accessors = [v => v, v => v]) => {
    const [fn1, fn2] = accessors;
    const set = new Set(arr2.map(v => fn2(v)));
    return arr1.filter(value => set.has(fn1(value)));
};

and you can call the function as:

intersect(arr1, arr2, [elem => elem.id, elem => elem.id])

Also note: this function finds intersection considering the first array is the primary array and thus the intersection result will be that of the primary array.

This function avoids the N^2 problem, taking advantage of the power of dictionaries. Loops through each array only once, and a third and shorter loop to return the final result. It also supports numbers, strings, and objects.

function array_intersect(array1, array2) 
{
    var mergedElems = {},
        result = [];

    // Returns a unique reference string for the type and value of the element
    function generateStrKey(elem) {
        var typeOfElem = typeof elem;
        if (typeOfElem === 'object') {
            typeOfElem += Object.prototype.toString.call(elem);
        }
        return [typeOfElem, elem.toString(), JSON.stringify(elem)].join('__');
    }

    array1.forEach(function(elem) {
        var key = generateStrKey(elem);
        if (!(key in mergedElems)) {
            mergedElems[key] = {elem: elem, inArray2: false};
        }
    });

    array2.forEach(function(elem) {
        var key = generateStrKey(elem);
        if (key in mergedElems) {
            mergedElems[key].inArray2 = true;
        }
    });

    Object.values(mergedElems).forEach(function(elem) {
        if (elem.inArray2) {
            result.push(elem.elem);
        }
    });

    return result;
}

If there is a special case that cannot be solved, just by modifying the generateStrKey function, it could surely be solved. The trick of this function is that it uniquely represents each different data according to type and value.

This variant has some performance improvements. Avoid loops in case any array is empty. It also starts by walking through the shorter array first, so if it finds all the values of the first array in the second array, exits the loop.

function array_intersect(array1, array2) 
{
    var mergedElems = {},
        result = [],
        firstArray, secondArray,
        firstN = 0, 
        secondN = 0;

    function generateStrKey(elem) {
        var typeOfElem = typeof elem;
        if (typeOfElem === 'object') {
            typeOfElem += Object.prototype.toString.call(elem);
        }
        return [typeOfElem, elem.toString(), JSON.stringify(elem)].join('__');
    }

    // Executes the loops only if both arrays have values
    if (array1.length && array2.length) 
    {
        // Begins with the shortest array to optimize the algorithm
        if (array1.length < array2.length) {
            firstArray = array1;
            secondArray = array2;
        } else {
            firstArray = array2;
            secondArray = array1;            
        }

        firstArray.forEach(function(elem) {
            var key = generateStrKey(elem);
            if (!(key in mergedElems)) {
                mergedElems[key] = {elem: elem, inArray2: false};
                // Increases the counter of unique values in the first array
                firstN++;
            }
        });

        secondArray.some(function(elem) {
            var key = generateStrKey(elem);
            if (key in mergedElems) {
                if (!mergedElems[key].inArray2) {
                    mergedElems[key].inArray2 = true;
                    // Increases the counter of matches
                    secondN++;
                    // If all elements of first array have coincidence, then exits the loop
                    return (secondN === firstN);
                }
            }
        });

        Object.values(mergedElems).forEach(function(elem) {
            if (elem.inArray2) {
                result.push(elem.elem);
            }
        });
    }

    return result;
}

Create an Object using one array and loop through the second array to check if the value exists as key.

function intersection(arr1, arr2) {
  var myObj = {};
  var myArr = [];
  for (var i = 0, len = arr1.length; i < len; i += 1) {
    if(myObj[arr1[i]]) {
      myObj[arr1[i]] += 1; 
    } else {
      myObj[arr1[i]] = 1;
    }
  }
  for (var j = 0, len = arr2.length; j < len; j += 1) {
    if(myObj[arr2[j]] && myArr.indexOf(arr2[j]) === -1) {
      myArr.push(arr2[j]);
    }
  }
  return myArr;
}

I think using an object internally can help with computations and could be performant too.

// Approach maintains a count of each element and works for negative elements too

function intersect(a,b){
    
    const A = {};
    a.forEach((v)=>{A[v] ? ++A[v] : A[v] = 1});
    const B = {};
    b.forEach((v)=>{B[v] ? ++B[v] : B[v] = 1});
    const C = {};
    Object.entries(A).map((x)=>C[x[0]] = Math.min(x[1],B[x[0]]))
    return Object.entries(C).map((x)=>Array(x[1]).fill(Number(x[0]))).flat();
}
const x = [1,1,-1,-1,0,0,2,2];
const y = [2,0,1,1,1,1,0,-1,-1,-1];
const result = intersect(x,y);
console.log(result);  // (7) [0, 0, 1, 1, 2, -1, -1]

I am using map even object could be used.

//find intersection of 2 arrs
const intersections = (arr1,arr2) => {
  let arrf = arr1.concat(arr2)
  let map = new Map();
  let union = [];
  for(let i=0; i<arrf.length; i++){
    if(map.get(arrf[i])){
      map.set(arrf[i],false);
    }else{
      map.set(arrf[i],true);
    }
  }
 map.forEach((v,k)=>{if(!v){union.push(k);}})
 return union;
}

Simplest, fastest O(n) and shortest way:

function intersection (a, b) {
    const setA = new Set(a);
    return b.filter(value => setA.has(value));
}

console.log(intersection([1,2,3], [2,3,4,5]))

@nbarbosa has almost the same answer but he cast both arrays to Set and then back to array. There is no need for any extra casting.

If your arrays are sorted, this should run in O(n), where n is min( a.length, b.length )

function intersect_1d( a, b ){
    var out=[], ai=0, bi=0, acurr, bcurr, last=Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER;
    while( ( acurr=a[ai] )!==undefined && ( bcurr=b[bi] )!==undefined ){
        if( acurr < bcurr){
            if( last===acurr ){
                out.push( acurr );
            }
            last=acurr;
            ai++;
        }
        else if( acurr > bcurr){
            if( last===bcurr ){
                out.push( bcurr );
            }
            last=bcurr;
            bi++;
        }
        else {
            out.push( acurr );
            last=acurr;
            ai++;
            bi++;
        }
    }
    return out;
}

function intersectionOfArrays(arr1, arr2) {
    return arr1.filter((element) => arr2.indexOf(element) !== -1).filter((element, pos, self) => self.indexOf(element) == pos);
}

This is a modern and simple ES6 way to do it that is also very flexible. It lets you specify multiple arrays as the arrays to compare the subject array to, and can work in both inclusive and exclusive mode.

// =======================================
// The function
// =======================================

function assoc(subjectArray, otherArrays, { mustBeInAll = true } = {}) {
  return subjectArray.filter((subjectItem) => {
    if (mustBeInAll) {
      return otherArrays.every((otherArray) =>
        otherArray.includes(subjectItem)
      );
    } else {
      return otherArrays.some((otherArray) => otherArray.includes(subjectItem));
    }
  });
}

// =======================================
// The usage
// =======================================

const cheeseList = ["stilton", "edam", "cheddar", "brie"];
const foodListCollection = [
  ["cakes", "ham", "stilton"],
  ["juice", "wine", "brie", "bread", "stilton"]
];

// Output will be: ['stilton', 'brie']
const inclusive = assoc(cheeseList, foodListCollection, { mustBeInAll: false }),

// Output will be: ['stilton']
const exclusive = assoc(cheeseList, foodListCollection, { mustBeInAll: true })

Live example: https://codesandbox.io/s/zealous-butterfly-h7dgf?fontsize=14&hidenavigation=1&theme=dark

This is a proposed standard: With the currently stage 2 proposal https://github.com/tc39/proposal-set-methods, you could use

mySet.intersection(mySet2);

Until then, you could use Immutable.js's Set, which inspired that proposal

Immutable.Set(mySet).intersect(mySet2)

Here's a simple implementation for handling multiple arrays with an optional compare function:

function intersection(arrays, compareFn = (val1, val2) => (val1 === val2)) {
  if (arrays.length < 2) return arrays[0] ?? []
  const array1 = arrays[0]
  const array2 = intersection(arrays.slice(1), compareFn)
  return array1.filter(val1 => array2.some(val2 => compareFn(val1, val2)))
}

console.log(intersection([[1, 2, 3], [2, 3, 4, 5]]))
console.log(intersection([[{ id: 1 }, { id: 2 }], [{ id: 1 }, { id: 3 }]],
  (val1, val2) => val1.id === val2.id))

"filter" and "indexOf" aren't supported on Array in IE. How about this:

var array1 = [1, 2, 3];
var array2 = [2, 3, 4, 5];

var intersection = [];
for (i in array1) {
    for (j in array2) {
        if (array1[i] == array2[j]) intersection.push(array1[i]);
    }
}