Finding out how many times an array element appears

Question

I am new to JavaScript, I have been learning and practicing for about 3 months and hope I can get some help on this topic. I'm making a poker game and what I'm trying to do is determine whether i have a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind or a full house.

For instance, in [1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3], 1 appears one time, 4 appears three times, and so on.

How could I possibly ask my computer to tell me how many times an array element appears?

Solved, here's the final product.

    <script type="text/javascript">
    var deck = [];
    var cards = [];
    var convertedcards = [];
    var kinds = [];
    var phase = 1;
    var displaycard = [];
    var options = 0;
    var endgame = false;

    // Fill Deck //
    for(i = 0; i < 52; i++){
        deck[deck.length] = i;          
    }

    // Distribute Cards //
    for(i = 0; i < 7; i++){
        cards[cards.length] = Number(Math.floor(Math.random() * 52));
        if(deck.indexOf(cards[cards.length - 1]) === -1){
            cards.splice(cards.length - 1, cards.length);
            i = i - 1;
        }else{
            deck[cards[cards.length - 1]] = "|";
        }
    }

    // Convert Cards //
    for(i = 0; i < 7; i++){
        convertedcards[i] = (cards[i] % 13) + 1;
    }


    // Cards Kind //
    for(i = 0; i < 7; i++){
        if(cards[i] < 13){
            kinds[kinds.length] = "H";
        }else if(cards[i] < 27 && cards[i] > 12){
            kinds[kinds.length] = "C";
        }else if(cards[i] < 40 && cards[i] > 26){
            kinds[kinds.length] = "D";
        }else{
            kinds[kinds.length] = "S";
        }
    }

    // Card Display //
    for(i = 0; i < 7; i++){
        displaycard[i] = convertedcards[i] + kinds[i];
    }

    // Hand Strenght //
    var handstrenght = function(){
        var usedcards = [];
        var count = 0;
        var pairs = [];
        for(i = 0, a = 1; i < 7; a++){
            if(convertedcards[i] === convertedcards[a] && a < 7 && usedcards[i] != "|"){
                pairs[pairs.length] = convertedcards[i];
                usedcards[a] = "|";
            }else if(a > 6){
                i = i + 1;
                a = i;
            }
        }

        // Flush >.< //
        var flush = false;
        for(i = 0, a = 1; i < 7; i++, a++){
            if(kinds[i] === kinds[a] && kinds[i] != undefined){
                count++;
                if(a >= 6 && count >= 5){
                    flush = true;
                    count = 0;
                }else if(a >= 6 && count < 5){
                    count = 0;
                }
            }
        }
        // Straight >.< //
        var straight = false;
        convertedcards = convertedcards.sort(function(a,b){return a-b});
        if(convertedcards[2] > 10 && convertedcards[3] > 10 && convertedcards[4] > 10){
            convertedcards[0] = 14;
            convertedcards = convertedcards.sort(function(a,b){return a-b});
        }
        alert(convertedcards);
        if(convertedcards[0] + 1 === convertedcards[1] && convertedcards[1] + 1 === convertedcards[2] && convertedcards[2] + 1 === convertedcards[3] && convertedcards[3] + 1 === convertedcards[4]){
            straight = true;
        }else if(convertedcards[1] + 1 === convertedcards[2] && convertedcards[2] + 1 === convertedcards[3] && convertedcards[3] + 1 === convertedcards[4] && convertedcards[4] + 1 === convertedcards[5]){
            straight = true;
        }else if(convertedcards[2] + 1 === convertedcards[3] && convertedcards[3] + 1 === convertedcards[4] && convertedcards[4] + 1 === convertedcards[5] && convertedcards[5] + 1 === convertedcards[6]){
            straight = true;
        }
        // Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Flush, Straight >.< //
        var royalflush = false;
        if(straight === true && flush === true && convertedcards[6] === 14){
            royalflush = true;
            alert("You have a Royal Flush");
        }
        else if(straight === true && flush === true && royalflush === false){
            alert("You have a straight flush");
        }else if(straight === true && flush === false){
            alert("You have a straight");
        }else if(straight === false && flush === true){
            alert("You have a flush");
        }
        // Full House >.< //
        if(pairs[0] === pairs[1] && pairs[1] != pairs[2] && pairs.length >= 3){
            fullhouse = true;
            alert("You have a fullhouse");
        }else if(pairs[0] != pairs[1] && pairs[1] === pairs[2] && pairs.length >= 3){
            fullhouse = true;
            alert("You have a fullhouse");
        }else if(pairs[0] != pairs[1] && pairs[1] != pairs[2] && pairs[2] === pairs[3] && pairs.length >= 3){
            fullhouse = true;
            alert("You have a fullhouse");
        }
        // Four of a kind >.< //
        else if(pairs[0] === pairs[1] && pairs[1] === pairs[2] && pairs.length > 0){
            alert("You have four of a kind");
        }
        // Three of a kind >.< //
        else if(pairs[0] === pairs[1] && flush === false && straight === false && pairs.length === 2){
            alert("You have three of a kind");
        }
        // Double Pair >.< //
        else if(pairs[0] != pairs[1] && flush === false && straight === false && pairs.length > 1){
            alert("You have a double pair");
        }
        // Pair >.< //
        else if(pairs.length === 1 && flush === false && straight === false && pairs.length === 1 ){
            alert("You have a pair");
        }
        alert(pairs);
    };
    while(endgame === false){
        if(phase === 1){
            options = Number(prompt("Your hand: " + displaycard[0] + " " + displaycard[1] + "\n\n" + "1. Check" + "\n" + "2. Fold"));
        }else if(phase === 2){
            options = Number(prompt("Your hand: " + displaycard[0] + " " + displaycard[1] + "\n\n" + displaycard[2] + " " + displaycard[3] + " " + displaycard[4] + "\n\n" + "1. Check" + "\n" + "2. Fold"));
        }else if(phase === 3){
            options = Number(prompt("Your hand: " + displaycard[0] + " " + displaycard[1] + "\n\n" + displaycard[2] + " " + displaycard[3] + " " + displaycard[4] + " " + displaycard[5] + "\n\n" + "1. Check" + "\n" + "2. Fold"));
        }else if(phase === 4){
            options = Number(prompt("Your hand: " + displaycard[0] + " " + displaycard[1] + "\n\n" + displaycard[2] + " " + displaycard[3] + " " + displaycard[4] + " " + displaycard[5] + " " + displaycard[6] + "\n\n" + "1. Check" + "\n" + "2. Fold"));
        }
        switch(options){
            case 1:
                    if(phase === 5){
                        handstrenght();
                        endgame = true;
                    }else{
                        phase++;
                    }
                    break;
            case 2:
                    endgame = true;
                    break;
            default:
                    endgame = true;
                    break;
        }
    }


</script>

Answer 1

• Keep a variable for the total count
• Loop through the array and check if current value is the same as the one you're looking for, if it is, increment the total count by one
• After the loop, total count contains the number of times the number you were looking for is in the array

Show your code and we can help you figure out where it went wrong

Here's a simple implementation (since you don't have the code that didn't work)

var list = [2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 1, 4, 5];  

function countInArray(array, what) {
    var count = 0;
    for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
        if (array[i] === what) {
            count++;
        }
    }
    return count;
}

countInArray(list, 2); // returns 2
countInArray(list, 1); // returns 3

countInArray could also have been implemented as

function countInArray(array, what) {
    return array.filter(item => item == what).length;
}

More elegant, but maybe not as performant since it has to create a new array.

Answer 2

With filter and length it seems simple but there is a big waste of memory.

If you want to use nice array methods, the appropriate one is reduce:

function countInArray(array, value) {
  return array.reduce((n, x) => n + (x === value), 0);
}
console.log(countInArray([1,2,3,4,4,4,3], 4)); // 3