Chunk Array
EasyUpdated: Jul 5, 2025
Practice on:
Problem
Given an array arr and a chunk size size, return a chunked array.
A chunked array contains the original elements in arr, but consists of subarrays each of length size. The length of the last subarray may be less than size if arr.length is not evenly divisible by size.
You may assume the array is the output of JSON.parse. In other words, it is valid JSON.
Please solve it without using lodash's _.chunk function.
Examples
Example 1
Input: arr = [1,2,3,4,5], size = 1
Output: [[1],[2],[3],[4],[5]]
Explanation: The arr has been split into subarrays each with 1 element.
Example 2
Input: arr = [1,9,6,3,2], size = 3
Output: [[1,9,6],[3,2]]
Explanation: The arr has been split into subarrays with 3 elements. However, only two elements are left for the 2nd subarray.
Example 3
Input: arr = [8,5,3,2,6], size = 6
Output: [[8,5,3,2,6]]
Explanation: Size is greater than arr.length thus all elements are in the first subarray.
Example 4
Input: arr = [], size = 1
Output: []
Explanation: There are no elements to be chunked so an empty array is returned.
Constraints
arris a valid JSON array2 <= JSON.stringify(arr).length <= 10^51 <= size <= arr.length + 1
Solution
Method 1 – Iterative Slicing
Intuition
The main idea is to repeatedly take size elements from the input array and group them into subarrays. This is a direct and efficient way to chunk an array.
Approach
- Initialize an empty result array
ans. - Iterate over the input array in steps of
size. - For each step, slice a subarray of length
size(or less for the last chunk) and append it toans. - Return the result array.
Code
JavaScript
class Solution {
chunk(arr, size) {
const ans = [];
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i += size) {
ans.push(arr.slice(i, i + size));
}
return ans;
}
}
TypeScript
class Solution {
chunk(arr: any[], size: number): any[][] {
const ans: any[][] = [];
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i += size) {
ans.push(arr.slice(i, i + size));
}
return ans;
}
}
Complexity
- ⏰ Time complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the array.
- 🧺 Space complexity: O(n), for the output array.