#How to restructure an array of strings based on prefix?

Source:StackOverflow

I have an array containing a list of filenames:

varfiles=['home_01.ai','home_02.ai','home_03.ai','imprint_01.ai','imprint_02.ai']

What I want to do is reorganise this array into a multi-dimensional array that groups together each file with the same prefix. In this case:

varfirstArray=['home_01.ai','home_02.ai','home_03.ai'],/*home*/secondArray=['imprint_01.ai','imprint_02.ai'];/*imprint*/

How could I achieve that when there can be a variable amount of prefixes that can be any length in my file array?

You can do it with AlaSQL JavaScript data processing library.

Here is the solution for your problem:

varres=alasql('COLUMN OF SELECT ARRAY(_) FROM ? \         GROUP BY _->split("_")->0',[files]);

This statement returns array of arrays grouped by prefix:

    [ [ 'home_01.ai', 'home_02.ai', 'home_03.ai' ],      [ 'imprint_01.ai', 'imprint_02.ai' ] ]

Here:

• COLUMN OF - return only first column of query
• SELECT ... FROM ? GROUP BY ... - select statement
• ARRAY(_) - group records in array
• FROM ? - query from parameter [files]
• GROUP BY->split("")->0 - take a value, split it with '' and then take first element of array (similar to JS r.split('')[0]