Find the shortest string in array

Question

How can i find the shortest string in javascript array with different count of array elements? I used

var min = Math.min(arr[0].length,arr[1].length,arr[2]         


        

Answer 1

You could use Math.min with Array#reduce.

var arr = ["aaaa", "aa", "aa", "aaaaa", "a", "aaaaaaaa"];

console.log(
  arr.reduce(function(r, a) {
    return Math.min(r, a.length);
  }, Infinity)
);

ES6

var arr = ["aaaa", "aa", "aa", "aaaaa", "a", "aaaaaaaa"];

console.log(arr.reduce((r, a) => Math.min(r, a.length), Infinity));

Answer 2

Use Array#map to create an array of lengths, and then apply it to Math.min():

var arr = ['cats', 'giants', 'daughters', 'ice'];
var min = Math.min.apply(Math, arr.map(function(str) { return str.length; }));
console.log(min);

Or use ES6's array spread and arrow function:

var arr = ['cats', 'giants', 'daughters', 'ice'];
var min = Math.min(...arr.map(({ length }) => length));
console.log(min);

Answer 3

You could use Array.prototype.reduce

const arr = ['small', 'big', 'yuge']

const shorter = (left, right) => left.length <= right.length ? left : right

console.log(
  arr.reduce(shorter)
)

Answer 4

Use Array#reduce method.

var arr = ["aaaa", "aa", "aa", "aaaaa", "a", "aaaaaaaa"];

console.log(
  arr.reduce(function(a, b) {
    return a.length <= b.length ? a : b;
  })
)

---

With ES6 arrow function

var arr = ["aaaa", "aa", "aa", "aaaaa", "a", "aaaaaaaa"];

console.log(
  arr.reduce((a, b) => a.length <= b.length ? a : b)
)

Answer 5

Please see this short solution below. I hope it helps:

var arr = ['cats', 'giants', 'daughters', 'ice'];    
arr.sort(); // ice, cats, giants, daughters
var shortest_element = arr[0]; // ice