Get n longest strings from an array

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I am given an array of strings and n which indicates how many longest strings should be returned. What I mean is this

JavaScript

longStr(["a", "ab", "abc", "abcd", "abcde"], 2)-> 'abcde abcd'

So, if n is n, it should return only 1 string, which is the longest on the array, if n is 2, it should return the longest string and the one which is the second longest.

What I have tried:

JavaScript

function longest (n,v) {
  var val = ""
for(var i = 0; i < n.length; i++){
  var length = n[0].length;
  if(n[i].length > length){val = n[i] + " " +n[i]; delete n[i]}
}
return val
}

console.log(longest( ["a", "ab", "abc", "abcd", "abcde"], 2));

I was trying to find the longest string and then remove it and then iterate again and add it but was stuck. Is it better to use recursion here?

Posted 10-Aug-16 7:04am

AlexLearne

Updated 10-Aug-16 8:07am

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Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan 10-Aug-16 13:10pm

Is this a question somewhere from Code Fights? They used to show such questions, with no sense at all.

2 solutions

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Karthik_Mahalingam · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-10T07:22:00

try this

JavaScript

function longStr(array, max)
        {
            var result = '';
            array.sort(function (a, b) { return b.length - a.length; }); // sort by length (descending)
            max = max >= array.length ? array.length : max; // validate for the max count less than array length 
            for (var i = 0; i < max; i++) {
                result += array[i] + ' ';
            }
            return result;             
        }

        longStr(["a", "ab", "abc", "abcd", "abcde"], 2);

refer Array.prototype.sort() - JavaScript | MDN[^]

demo:- JSFiddle[^]

Updated solution based on comments from Richard Deeming

JavaScript

function longStr(array, max)
       {
           var result = '';
           array.sort(function (a, b) { return b.length - a.length; }); // sort by length (descending)
           max = max >= array.length ? array.length : max; // validate for the max count less than array length
          return array.slice(0, max).join(' '); 
       }

Patrice T · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-10T08:07:00

Solution 2

try:

JavaScript

function longest (n,v) {
  var val = n[0];
  var length = n[0].length;
  for(var i = 1; i < n.length; i++){
    if(n[i].length > length){
      val = n[i];
      length = n[i].length;
    }
  }
  return val
}

Posted 10-Aug-16 8:07am

Patrice T

Get n longest strings from an array

2 solutions

Solution 1

Solution 2

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