In PHP, you can do...
range(1, 3); // Array(1, 2, 3)
range("A", "C"); // Array("A", "B", "C")
That is, there is a function that lets you get a range of numbers or characters by passing the upper and lower bounds.
Is there anything built-in to JavaScript natively for this? If not, how would I implement it?
It works for characters and numbers, going forwards or backwards with an optional step.
var range = function(start, end, step) {
var range = [];
var typeofStart = typeof start;
var typeofEnd = typeof end;
if (step === 0) {
throw TypeError("Step cannot be zero.");
}
if (typeofStart == "undefined" || typeofEnd == "undefined") {
throw TypeError("Must pass start and end arguments.");
} else if (typeofStart != typeofEnd) {
throw TypeError("Start and end arguments must be of same type.");
}
typeof step == "undefined" && (step = 1);
if (end < start) {
step = -step;
}
if (typeofStart == "number") {
while (step > 0 ? end >= start : end <= start) {
range.push(start);
start += step;
}
} else if (typeofStart == "string") {
if (start.length != 1 || end.length != 1) {
throw TypeError("Only strings with one character are supported.");
}
start = start.charCodeAt(0);
end = end.charCodeAt(0);
while (step > 0 ? end >= start : end <= start) {
range.push(String.fromCharCode(start));
start += step;
}
} else {
throw TypeError("Only string and number types are supported");
}
return range;
}
If augmenting native types is your thing, then assign it to Array.range
.
var range = function(start, end, step) {
var range = [];
var typeofStart = typeof start;
var typeofEnd = typeof end;
if (step === 0) {
throw TypeError("Step cannot be zero.");
}
if (typeofStart == "undefined" || typeofEnd == "undefined") {
throw TypeError("Must pass start and end arguments.");
} else if (typeofStart != typeofEnd) {
throw TypeError("Start and end arguments must be of same type.");
}
typeof step == "undefined" && (step = 1);
if (end < start) {
step = -step;
}
if (typeofStart == "number") {
while (step > 0 ? end >= start : end <= start) {
range.push(start);
start += step;
}
} else if (typeofStart == "string") {
if (start.length != 1 || end.length != 1) {
throw TypeError("Only strings with one character are supported.");
}
start = start.charCodeAt(0);
end = end.charCodeAt(0);
while (step > 0 ? end >= start : end <= start) {
range.push(String.fromCharCode(start));
start += step;
}
} else {
throw TypeError("Only string and number types are supported");
}
return range;
}
console.log(range("A", "Z", 1));
console.log(range("Z", "A", 1));
console.log(range("A", "Z", 3));
console.log(range(0, 25, 1));
console.log(range(0, 25, 5));
console.log(range(20, 5, 5));