CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptarraysmultidimensional-arraycopyconways-game-of-life
Andrew Horn
Andrew Horn

Reputation: 2549

Why can't I make a copy of this 2d array in JS? How can I make a copy?

I'm implementing a John Conway Game of Life, but I'm having a weird problem. Here is a short version if the code giving me trouble:

let lifeMap = [
  [true, false, false],
  [false, false, false],
  [false, false, false]
];
let oldLifeMap = lifeMap.slice();
for (let row = 0; row < lifeMap.length; row++) {
  for (let val = 0; val < lifeMap[row].length; val++) {
    let bool = lifeMap[row][val];
    let newBool = false; // here is where I would determine if cell is alive/dead
    lifeMap[row][val] = newBool;
    if (row === 0 && val === 0) console.log("at (0,0)", oldLifeMap[0][0]);
  }
}

In response to this code, JavaScript prints at (0,0) false. I need it to stay true until the next generation starts.

I thought doing let oldLifeMap = lifeMap.slice() would fix it, but it doesn't, and I'm not sure why. (Shouldn't it copy the 2d array and not create a second ref to it?)

Anyway, what is going on here, and how do I successfully make an actual copy of lifeMap here?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3879

Answers (2)

Patrick Roberts
Patrick Roberts

Reputation: 51876

A hat-tip to @Redu's answer which is good for N-dimensional arrays, but in the case of 2D arrays specifically, is unnecessary. In order to deeply clone your particular 2D array, all you need to do is:

let oldLifeMap = lifeMap.map(inner => inner.slice())

This will create a copy of each inner array using .slice() with no arguments, and store it to a copy of the outer array made using .map().

Upvotes: 13

Redu
Redu

Reputation: 26161

You may clone an ND (deeply nested) array as follows;

Array.prototype.clone = function(){
  return this.map(e => Array.isArray(e) ? e.clone() : e);
};

or if you don't want to modify Array.prototype you may simply refactor the above code like;

function cloneArray(a){
  return a.map(e => Array.isArray(e) ? cloneArray(e) : e);
};

Upvotes: 5

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