How to stop a JavaScript for loop?

Question

I'm using this JavaScript to iterate through an array and find a matching array element:

var remSize = [], 
    szString, remData, remIndex, i;

for (i = 0; i < remSize.length; i++) {      
    // I'm looking for the index i, when the condition is true
    remSize[i].size == remData.size ? remIndex = i : remIndex = -1;     
}

The array contains these "sizes": ["34", "36", "38"...].

remData.size is the "size" I'm looking for (e.g. "36").

I need to return the index i if the size I'm searching for is in the index. Otherwise I need to return -1. Is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

To stop a for loop early in JavaScript, you use break:

var remSize = [], 
    szString,
    remData,
    remIndex,
    i;

/* ...I assume there's code here putting entries in `remSize` and assigning something to `remData`... */

remIndex = -1; // Set a default if we don't find it
for (i = 0; i < remSize.length; i++) {      
     // I'm looking for the index i, when the condition is true
     if (remSize[i].size === remData.size) {
          remIndex = i;
          break;       // <=== breaks out of the loop early
     }
}

If you're in an ES2015 (aka ES6) environment, for this specific use case, you can use Array#findIndex (to find the entry's index) or Array#find (to find the entry itself), both of which can be shimmed/polyfilled:

var remSize = [], 
    szString,
    remData,
    remIndex;

/* ...I assume there's code here putting entries in `remSize` and assigning something to `remData`... */

remIndex = remSize.findIndex(function(entry) {
     return entry.size === remData.size;
});

Array#find:

var remSize = [], 
    szString,
    remData,
    remEntry;

/* ...I assume there's code here putting entries in `remSize` and assigning something to `remData`... */

remEntry = remSize.find(function(entry) {
     return entry.size === remData.size;
});

Array#findIndex stops the first time the callback returns a truthy value, returning the index for that call to the callback; it returns -1 if the callback never returns a truthy value. Array#find also stops when it finds what you're looking for, but it returns the entry, not its index (or undefined if the callback never returns a truthy value).

If you're using an ES5-compatible environment (or an ES5 shim), you can use the new some function on arrays, which calls a callback until the callback returns a truthy value:

var remSize = [], 
    szString,
    remData,
    remIndex;

/* ...I assume there's code here putting entries in `remSize` and assigning something to `remData`... */

remIndex = -1; // <== Set a default if we don't find it
remSize.some(function(entry, index) {
    if (entry.size === remData.size) {
        remIndex = index;
        return true; // <== Equivalent of break for `Array#some`
    }
});

If you're using jQuery, you can use jQuery.each to loop through an array; that would look like this:

var remSize = [], 
    szString,
    remData,
    remIndex;

/* ...I assume there's code here putting entries in `remSize` and assigning something to `remData`... */

remIndex = -1; // <== Set a default if we don't find it
jQuery.each(remSize, function(index, entry) {
    if (entry.size === remData.size) {
        remIndex = index;
        return false; // <== Equivalent of break for jQuery.each
    }
});