JavaScript: Find the most frequent item of an array

JavaScript Array: Exercise-8 with Solution

Most Frequent Array Item

Write a JavaScript program to find the most frequent item in an array.

Sample array: var arr1=[3, 'a', 'a', 'a', 2, 3, 'a', 3, 'a', 2, 4, 9, 3];
Sample Output: a ( 5 times )

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

JavaScript Code:

// Declare and initialize the original array
var arr1 = [3, 'a', 'a', 'a', 2, 3, 'a', 3, 'a', 2, 4, 9, 3];
// Initialize variables to track the most frequent item, its frequency, and the current item's frequency
var mf = 1;
var m = 0;
var item;
// Iterate through the array to find the most frequent item
for (var i = 0; i < arr1.length; i++) { // Nested loop to compare the current item with others in the array for (var j = i; j < arr1.length; j++) { // Check if the current item matches with another item in the array if (arr1[i] == arr1[j]) m++; // Update the most frequent item and its frequency if the current item's frequency is higher if (mf < m) { mf = m; item = arr1[i]; } } // Reset the current item's frequency for the next iteration m = 0; } // Output the most frequent item and its frequency console.log(item + " ( " + mf + " times ) "); 

Output:

a ( 5 times )

Flowchart:

ES6 Version:

// Declare and initialize the original array
const arr1 = [3, 'a', 'a', 'a', 2, 3, 'a', 3, 'a', 2, 4, 9, 3];
// Initialize variables to track the most frequent item, its frequency, and the current item's frequency
let mf = 1;
let m = 0;
let item;
// Iterate through the array to find the most frequent item
for (let i = 0; i < arr1.length; i++) { // Nested loop to compare the current item with others in the array for (let j = i; j < arr1.length; j++) { // Check if the current item matches with another item in the array if (arr1[i] == arr1[j]) m++; // Update the most frequent item and its frequency if the current item's frequency is higher if (mf < m) { mf = m; item = arr1[i]; } } // Reset the current item's frequency for the next iteration m = 0; } // Output the most frequent item and its frequency console.log(item + " ( " + mf + " times ) "); 

Live Demo:

See the Pen JavaScript - Find the most frequent item of an array- array-ex- 8 by w3resource (@w3resource) on CodePen.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a JavaScript function that finds the most frequent item in an array and returns both the item and its occurrence count.
• Write a JavaScript function that handles arrays with mixed data types when determining the frequency of items.
• Write a JavaScript function that uses a hash map to compute the frequency of items and returns the one with the highest count.
• Write a JavaScript function that resolves ties by returning the item that appears first in the array when frequencies are equal.

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