578

Set seems like a nice way to create Arrays with guaranteed unique elements, but it does not expose any good way to get properties, except for generator [Set].values, which is called in an awkward way of mySet.values.next().

This would have been ok, if you could call map and similar functions on Sets. But you cannot do that, as well.

I've tried Array.from, but seems to be converting only array-like (NodeList and TypedArrays ?) objects to Array. Another try: Object.keys does not work for Sets, and Set.prototype does not have similar static method.

So, the question: Is there any convenient inbuilt method for creating an Array with values of a given Set ? (Order of element does not really matter).

if no such option exists, then maybe there is a nice idiomatic one-liner for doing that ? like, using for...of, or similar ?

c69
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11 Answers11

1036

if no such option exists, then maybe there is a nice idiomatic one-liner for doing that ? like, using for...of, or similar ?

Indeed, there are several ways to convert a Set to an Array:

using Array.from

let array = Array.from(mySet);

Simply spreading the Set out in an array

let array = [...mySet];

The old fashion way, iterating and pushing to a new array (Sets do have forEach)

let array = [];
mySet.forEach(v => array.push(v));

Previously, using the non-standard, and now deprecated array comprehension syntax:

let array = [v for (v of mySet)];
Steve Bennett
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adeneo
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    This doesn't work in Safari(8) or Chrome (41). But it does work in Firefox(35) though. – 425nesp Apr 02 '15 at 05:33
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    `var array = [v for (v of mySet)];` does not work in [tag:Chrome] 46 – Eric Oct 27 '15 at 21:36
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    looks like chrome supports as of 45 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/from#AutoCompatibilityTable – amwinter Dec 11 '15 at 23:00
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    I think the most elegant way is simply `[...mySet]`. – Wojciech Bednarski Mar 10 '16 at 12:49
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    @WojciechBednarski l33t is not _elegant_. If any of the examples are that, it's `Array.from(mySet);` – Buffalo May 04 '17 at 06:35
  • Also, the last one is using this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Array_comprehensions, which is a non-standard and deprecated feature – Alex Aug 14 '18 at 16:35
  • which way is better? – Vic Jan 24 '19 at 18:28
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    Just wanted to add that `[...mySet]` has issues when compiled using Typescript (see [this issue](https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/8856)), so probably safer to use `Array.from(mySet)` if you intend to convert to Typescript in the near future. – Ivan Gozali Mar 11 '19 at 16:24
  • Spread operator returns a [Set(3)] instead of ['a','b','c'] only on production, on dev environment it looks ok, any idea why? Maybe something because uglification or something other in webpack? Array.from() solves this issue. – Pumych May 26 '21 at 15:18
81

via https://speakerdeck.com/anguscroll/es6-uncensored by Angus Croll

It turns out, we can use spread operator:

var myArr = [...mySet];

Or, alternatively, use Array.from:

var myArr = Array.from(mySet);
c69
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    why a downvote ? are there any problems with this approach ? Or somebody tried to execute this code in IE11 _and failed_ ? ;) – c69 Oct 09 '14 at 08:49
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    I didn't downvote, but I tried this in the latest version of Chrome and failed, so it's not just an IE issue. – Meshaal Mar 19 '15 at 04:45
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    refer to https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ for more or less up-to-date support chart. Currently, of all desktop browsers, only FF and IE TP (aka Spartan, aka MS Non-IE browser) support `Array.from` and `...` – c69 Mar 19 '15 at 23:58
  • Looks like Firefox is the only browser to support `Array.from`. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/from – 425nesp Apr 02 '15 at 05:27
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    Here you can enable it for Chrome `chrome://flags/#enable-javascript-harmony` Remember it's experimental don't think for moment that this is a good solution for development. – sospedra Jun 15 '15 at 11:11
  • Is there a way to do this that also works in [tag:ie] or [tag:microsoft-edge]? – Eric Oct 27 '15 at 21:39
14

Assuming you are just using Set temporarily to get unique values in an array and then converting back to an Array, try using this:

_.uniq([])

This relies on using underscore or lo-dash.

Eric
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aaronmgdr
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7

Perhaps to late to the party, but you could just do the following:

const set = new Set(['a', 'b']);
const values = set.values();
const array = Array.from(values);

This should work without problems in browsers that have support for ES6 or if you have a shim that correctly polyfills the above functionality.

Edit: Today you can just use what @c69 suggests:

const set = new Set(['a', 'b']);
const array = [...set]; // or Array.from(set)
Roland
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    It seems that using the `set.entries()` you will get array of pairs. You can use `set.values()` to get the plain array. – Shimon Rachlenko Jan 13 '16 at 13:14
  • @ShimonRachlenko true, and the user did ask for that. – Roland Jan 13 '16 at 16:01
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    You can just use `var array = Array.from(set);` – Buffalo May 04 '17 at 06:36
  • this answer is just wrong. You don't need the call to `.entries`, nor `.values`. As @Buffalo mentioned above - `Array.from(set)` is enough. – c69 Oct 23 '18 at 02:12
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    @c69 that is true. At the time of this answer, `Array.from()` did not work as expected. But now spread and `Array.from()` both work just fine. – Roland Oct 23 '18 at 09:50
5

Use spread Operator to get your desired result

var arrayFromSet = [...set];
Vignesh Murugan
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1

The code below creates a set from an array and then, using the ... operator.

var arr=[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,];
var set=new Set(arr);
let setarr=[...set];
console.log(setarr);
Lajos Arpad
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0

In my case the solution was:

var testSet = new Set();
var testArray = [];

testSet.add("1");
testSet.add("2");
testSet.add("2"); // duplicate item
testSet.add("3");

var someFunction = function (value1, value2, setItself) {
    testArray.push(value1);
};

testSet.forEach(someFunction);

console.log("testArray: " + testArray);

value1 equals value2 => The value contained in the the current position in the Set. The same value is passed for both arguments

Worked under IE11.

d0wn
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0

Using Set and converting it to an array is very similar to copying an Array...

So you can use the same methods for copying an array which is very easy in ES6

For example, you can use ...

Imagine you have this Set below:

const a = new Set(["Alireza", "Dezfoolian", "is", "a", "developer"]);

You can simply convert it using:

const b = [...a];

and the result is:

["Alireza", "Dezfoolian", "is", "a", "developer"]

An array and now you can use all methods that you can use for an array...

Other common ways of doing it:

const b = Array.from(a);

or using loops like:

const b = [];
a.forEach(v => b.push(v));
Alireza
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0

SIMPLEST ANSWER

just spread the set inside []

let mySet = new Set()
mySet.add(1)
mySet.add(5)
mySet.add(5) 
let arr = [...mySet ]

Result: [1,5]

Aljohn Yamaro
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-1

Here is an easy way to get only unique raw values from array. If you convert the array to Set and after this, do the conversion from Set to array. This conversion works only for raw values, for objects in the array it is not valid. Try it by yourself.

    let myObj1 = {
        name: "Dany",
        age: 35,
        address: "str. My street N5"
    }

    let myObj2 = {
        name: "Dany",
        age: 35,
        address: "str. My street N5"
    }

    var myArray = [55, 44, 65, myObj1, 44, myObj2, 15, 25, 65, 30];
    console.log(myArray);

    var mySet = new Set(myArray);
    console.log(mySet);

    console.log(mySet.size === myArray.length);// !! The size differs because Set has only unique items

    let uniqueArray = [...mySet];
    console.log(uniqueArray); 
    // Here you will see your new array have only unique elements with raw 
    // values. The objects are not filtered as unique values by Set.
    // Try it by yourself.
zdrsoft
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-1

I would prefer to start with removing duplications from an array and then try to sort. Return the 1st element from new array.

    function processData(myArray) {
        var s = new Set(myArray);
        var arr = [...s];
        return arr.sort((a,b) => b-a)[1];
    }
    
    console.log(processData([2,3,6,6,5]);