Merge two javascript objects adding values of common properties

Question

I have two or more javascript objects. I want to merge them adding values of common properties and then sort them in descending order of values.

e.g.

var a = {en : 5,fr: 3,in: 9}
var b = {en: 8,fr: 21,br: 8}

var c = merge(a,b)

c should then be like this:

c = {
fr: 24,
en: 13,
in:9,
br:8
} 

i.e. both objects are merge, values of common keys are added and then keys are sorted.

Here's what I've tried:

var a = {en : 5,fr: 3,in: 9}
var b = {en: 8,fr: 21,br: 8}
c = {}

// copy common values and all values of a to c
for(var k in a){
  if(typeof b[k] != 'undefined'){  
    c[k] = a[k] + b[k]  
  }
  else{ c[k] = a[k]}
}

// copy remaining values of b (which were not common)
for(var k in b){
 if(typeof c[k]== 'undefined'){
  c[k] = b[k]
 }
} 

// Create a object array for sorting
var arr = [];

for(var k in c){
 arr.push({lang:k,count:c[k]})
}

// Sort object array
arr.sort(function(a, b) {
   return b.count - a.count;
})

but I dont think its good. So many loops :( It would be nice if someone can provide a less messy and good code.

Answer 1

In ES2015+, object properties are ordered (first by ascending numeric keys, then by insertion order for non-numeric keys). This is guaranteed by the specification if you use one of the methods for which iteration order is specified (like Object.getOwnPropertyNames).

In ES2020+, the methods for which enumeration order used to be unspecified are now specified (though environments have been following it for ages anyway).

But you have to be sure that none of the properties are numeric (otherwise, they'll come first, before non-numeric properties, no matter the insertion order).

Use reduce to iterate over each object and create or add to the same property on the accumulator. Then, sort the object's entries, and use Object.fromEntries to transform it into an object with sorted properties. No need for jQuery:

var a = {en : 5,fr: 3,in: 9}
var b = {en: 8,fr: 21,br: 8}
console.log(merge(a, b));

function merge(...objects) {
  const merged = objects.reduce((a, obj) => {
    Object.entries(obj).forEach(([key, val]) => {
      a[key] = (a[key] || 0) + val;
    });
    return a;
  }, {});
  return Object.fromEntries(
    Object.entries(merged).sort(
      (a, b) => b[1] - a[1]
    )
  );
}