How do I zip two arrays in JavaScript?

I have 2 arrays:

var a = [1, 2, 3]
var b = [a, b, c]

What I want to get as a result is:

[[1, a], [2, b], [3, c]]

It seems simple but I just can't figure out.

I want the result to be one array with each of the elements from the two arrays zipped together.

3 Answers

Use the map method:

var a = [1, 2, 3]
var b = ['a', 'b', 'c']
var c = a.map(function(e, i) { return [e, b[i]];
});
console.log(c)

DEMO

Zip Arrays of same length:

Using Array.prototype.map()

const zip = (a, b) => a.map((k, i) => [k, b[i]]);
console.log(zip([1,2,3], ["a","b","c"]));
// [[1, "a"], [2, "b"], [3, "c"]]

Zip Arrays of different length:

Using Array.from()

const zip = (a, b) => Array.from(Array(Math.max(b.length, a.length)), (_, i) => [a[i], b[i]]);
console.log( zip([1,2,3], ["a","b","c","d"]) );
// [[1, "a"], [2, "b"], [3, "c"], [undefined, "d"]]

Using Array.prototype.fill() and Array.prototype.map()

const zip = (a, b) => Array(Math.max(b.length, a.length)).fill().map((_,i) => [a[i], b[i]]);
console.log(zip([1,2,3], ["a","b","c","d"]));
// [[1, "a"], [2, "b"], [3, "c"], [undefined, "d"]]

Zip Multiple (n) Arrays:

const zip = (...arr) => Array(Math.max(...arr.map(a => a.length))).fill().map((_,i) => arr.map(a => a[i]));
console.log(zip([1,2], [3,4], [5,6])); // [[1,3,5], [2,4,6]]

Zipping by leveraging generator functions

You can also use a generator function to zip().

const a = [1, 2, 3]
const b = ['a', 'b', 'c']
/** * Zips any number of arrays. It will always zip() the largest array returning undefined for shorter arrays. * @param {...Array<any>} arrays */
function* zip(...arrays){ const maxLength = arrays.reduce((max, curIterable) => curIterable.length > max ? curIterable.length: max, 0); for (let i = 0; i < maxLength; i++) { yield arrays.map(array => array[i]); }
}
// put zipped result in an array
const result = [...zip(a, b)]
// or lazy generate the values
for (const [valA, valB] of zip(a, b)) { console.log(`${valA}: ${valB}`);
}

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

The above works for any number of arrays and will zip() the longest array so undefined is returned as a value for shorter arrays.

Zipping of all Iterables

Here a function which can be used for all Iterables (e.g. Maps, Sets or your custom Iterable), not just arrays.

const a = [1, 2, 3];
const b = ["a", "b", "c"];
/** * Zips any number of iterables. It will always zip() the largest Iterable returning undefined for shorter arrays. * @param {...Iterable<any>} iterables */
function* zip(...iterables) { // get the iterator of for each iterables const iters = [...iterables].map((iterable) => iterable[Symbol.iterator]()); let next = iters.map((iter) => iter.next().value); // as long as any of the iterables returns something, yield a value (zip longest) while(anyOf(next)) { yield next; next = iters.map((iter) => iter.next().value); } function anyOf(arr){ return arr.some(v => v !== undefined); }
}
// put zipped result in aa array
const result = [...zip(a, new Set(b))];
// or lazy generate the values
for (const [valA, valB] of zip(a, new Set(b))) { console.log(`${valA}: ${valB}`);
}

Obviously it would also be possible to just use [...Iterable] to transform any Iterable to an array and then use the first function.