chunk.js

/**
 * Split an array into chunks of a specified size. This function
 * has the same behavior as [PHP's array_chunk](http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-chunk.php)
 * function, and thus will insert smaller-sized chunks at the end if
 * the input size is not divisible by the chunk size.
 *
 * `x` is expected to be an array, and `chunkSize` a number.
 * The `x` array can contain any kind of data.
 *
 * @param {Array} x a sample
 * @param {number} chunkSize size of each output array. must be a positive integer
 * @returns {Array<Array>} a chunked array
 * @throws {Error} if chunk size is less than 1 or not an integer
 * @example
 * chunk([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], 2);
 * // => [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]
 */
function chunk(x, chunkSize) {
    // a list of result chunks, as arrays in an array
    const output = [];

    // `chunkSize` must be zero or higher - otherwise the loop below,
    // in which we call `start += chunkSize`, will loop infinitely.
    // So, we'll detect and throw in that case to indicate
    // invalid input.
    if (chunkSize < 1) {
        throw new Error("chunk size must be a positive number");
    }

    if (Math.floor(chunkSize) !== chunkSize) {
        throw new Error("chunk size must be an integer");
    }

    // `start` is the index at which `.slice` will start selecting
    // new array elements
    for (let start = 0; start < x.length; start += chunkSize) {
        // for each chunk, slice that part of the array and add it
        // to the output. The `.slice` function does not change
        // the original array.
        output.push(x.slice(start, start + chunkSize));
    }
    return output;
}

export default chunk;