Question

66

optimize search through large js string array?

rated 0 times [ 72] [ 6] / answers: 1 / hits: 17309 / 14 Years ago, wed, october 20, 2010, 12:00:00

if I have a large javascript string array that has over 10,000 elements,
how do I quickly search through it?

Right now I have a javascript string array that stores the description of a job,
and Im allowing the user to dynamic filter the returned list as they type into an input box.

So say I have an string array like so:

var descArr = {flipping burgers, pumping gas, delivering mail};

and the user wants to search for: p

How would I be able to search a string array that has 10000+ descriptions in it quickly?
Obviously I can't sort the description array since they're descriptions, so binary search is out. And since the user can search by p or pi or any combination of letters, this partial search means that I can't use associative arrays (i.e. searchDescArray[pumping gas] )
to speed up the search.

Any ideas anyone?

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yosefleod

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answered 14 Years ago dusty · Accepted Answer

As regular expression engines in actual browsers are going nuts in terms of speed, how about doing it that way? Instead of an array pass a gigantic string and separate the words with an identifer.
Example:

String flipping burgerspumping gasdelivering mail

Regex: ([^]*ping[^]*)

With the switch /g for global you get all the matches. Make sure the user does not search for your string separator.

You can even add an id into the string with something like:

String 11 flipping burgers12 pumping gas13 delivering mail

Regex: (d+) ([^]*ping[^]*)

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/RnabN/4/ (30000 strings, limit results to 100)