How to get symmetric difference between two arrays in JavaScript ?
Last Updated :
27 May, 2024
In this article, we will see how to get the symmetric difference between two arrays using JavaScript.
In Mathematics the symmetric difference between two sets A and B is represented as A Δ B = (A – B) ∪ (B – A)
- It is defined as a set of all elements that are present in either set A or set B but not in both.
- In simple words, common elements are discarded from both sets.
For example:
A = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
B = { 4, 5, 6, 7 }
A - B = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} - { 4, 5, 6, 7 }
= { 1, 2, 3 }
B - A = { 4, 5, 6, 7 } - { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
= { 7, 1, 2, 3 }
A Δ B = ( A - B ) ∪ ( B - A )
= { 1, 2, 3 } ∪ { 7, 1, 2, 3 }
A Δ B = { 1, 2, 3, 7 }We can achieve this with the following approaches:
Approaches to get Symmetric difference:
Approach 1: Naive method – using Javascript for loop.
Example: In this example, we will be finding the symmetric difference of the two arrays using Javascript for loop.
JavaScript
// Defining two arrays and a resultant array
const a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9];
const b = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9];
const result = [];
// Defining the function with two
// arguments array inputs
function difference(arr1, arr2) {
let i = 0,
j = 0;
let flag = false;
/* For array 1 */
for (i = 0; i < arr1.length; i++) {
// Resetting the flag and the
// other array iterator
j = 0;
flag = false;
while (j != arr2.length) {
if (arr1[i] == arr2[j]) {
flag = true;
break;
}
j++;
}
/* If value is not present in the
second array then push that value
to the resultant array */
if (!flag) {
result.push(arr1[i]);
}
}
flag = false;
// For array 2
for (i = 0; i < arr2.length; i++) {
// Resetting the flag and the
// other array iterator
j = 0;
flag = false;
while (j != arr1.length) {
if (arr2[i] == arr1[j]) {
flag = true;
break;
}
j++;
}
/* If value is not present in the
first array then push that value
to the resultant array */
if (!flag) {
result.push(arr2[i]);
}
}
return result;
}
console.log(difference(a, b));
Output[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 ]
In this approach, we use the filter() method on the first array and check if each item is not present in the second array using the includes() method. The resulting array contains the elements that are present in the first array but not in the second array.
Syntax:
array1.filter((element) => !array2.includes(element));
Example: In this example, we use filter() and includes() methods to get the difference between the arrays as shown:
JavaScript
// Defining two arrays and a resultant array
const array1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9];
const array2 = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9];
// Getting elements in array1 but not array2
const difference1 = array1.filter(
(element) => !array2.includes(element));
// Getting elements in array2 but not array1
const difference2 = array2.filter(
(element) => !array1.includes(element));
// Combining the differences
const result = [...difference1, ...difference2];
// Showing the output
console.log(result);
Output[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 ]
Approach 3: Using Set and filter() Method
In this approach, the arrays are converted to Sets using the Set constructor. The Set data structure only allows unique values. By filtering out the elements from the first set that also exist in the second Set, we can obtain the difference.
Syntax:
const difference = [...set1].filter((element) => !set2.has(element));
Example: In this example, we will get the differences of arrays using set and filter() method and show the combined result as output:
JavaScript
// Defining two arrays
const array1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9];
const array2 = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9];
// Converting arrrays to sets using set method
const set1 = new Set(array1);
const set2 = new Set(array2);
// Geting the differences using filter method
const difference1 = [...set1].filter((element) => !set2.has(element));
const difference2 = [...set2].filter((element) => !set1.has(element));
// Combining differnce arrays
const result = [...difference1, ...difference2];
// Showing the result as output
console.log(result);
Output[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 ]
This method iterates over the first array and checks if each element is present in the second array using the includes() method. It accumulates the elements that are not found in the second array, resulting in the difference between the two arrays.
Syntax:
const difference = array1.reduce((result, element) => {
if (array2.indexOf(element) === -1) {
result.push(element);
}
return result;
}, []);Example: In this example, we will get the differences of arrays using reduce() and includes() methods and show the combined result as output:
JavaScript
// Defining two arrays
const array1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9];
const array2 = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9];
// Getting elemment in array1 but not in array2
const difference1 = array1.reduce((result, element) => {
if (array2.indexOf(element) === -1) {
result.push(element);
}
return result;
}, []);
// Getting elemements in array2 but not in array1
const difference2 = array2.reduce((result, element) => {
if (array1.indexOf(element) === -1) {
result.push(element);
}
return result;
}, []);
// Combining the diffeerence using spread operator
const result = [...difference1, ...difference2];
// Show the result as output
console.log(result);
Output[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 ]
Using Lodash Library
Using the Lodash library, the xor function computes the symmetric difference between two arrays, returning an array of elements that are unique to each input array. This approach simplifies the process by leveraging Lodash’s built-in utility functions.
Example: In this example we are using lodash library’s xor function to compute the symmetric difference between array1 and array2, returning elements present in one array but not both. The result is logged to the console.
JavaScript
const _ = require('lodash');
const array1 = [1, 2, 3];
const array2 = [3, 4, 5];
const symmetricDifference = _.xor(array1, array2);
console.log(symmetricDifference);
Output:
[1, 2, 4, 5]
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