Split array into chunks

The array.slice() method can extract a slice from the beginning, middle, or end of an array for whatever purposes you require, without changing the original array.

const chunkSize = 10;
for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i += chunkSize) {
    const chunk = array.slice(i, i + chunkSize);
    // do whatever
}

The last chunk may be smaller than chunkSize. For example when given an array of 12 elements the first chunk will have 10 elements, the second chunk only has 2.

Note that a chunkSize of 0 will cause an infinite loop.

Modified from an answer by dbaseman: https://stackoverflow.com/a/10456344/711085

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk_inefficient', {
  value: function(chunkSize) {
    var array = this;
    return [].concat.apply([],
      array.map(function(elem, i) {
        return i % chunkSize ? [] : [array.slice(i, i + chunkSize)];
      })
    );
  }
});

console.log(
  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].chunk_inefficient(3)
)
// [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7]]

minor addendum:

I should point out that the above is a not-that-elegant (in my mind) workaround to use Array.map. It basically does the following, where ~ is concatenation:

[[1,2,3]]~[]~[]~[] ~ [[4,5,6]]~[]~[]~[] ~ [[7]]

It has the same asymptotic running time as the method below, but perhaps a worse constant factor due to building empty lists. One could rewrite this as follows (mostly the same as Blazemonger's method, which is why I did not originally submit this answer):

More efficient method:

// refresh page if experimenting and you already defined Array.prototype.chunk

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {
  value: function(chunkSize) {
    var R = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i += chunkSize)
      R.push(this.slice(i, i + chunkSize));
    return R;
  }
});

console.log(
  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].chunk(3)
)

My preferred way nowadays is the above, or one of the following:

Array.range = function(n) {
  // Array.range(5) --> [0,1,2,3,4]
  return Array.apply(null,Array(n)).map((x,i) => i)
};

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {
  value: function(n) {

    // ACTUAL CODE FOR CHUNKING ARRAY:
    return Array.range(Math.ceil(this.length/n)).map((x,i) => this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));

  }
});

Demo:

> JSON.stringify( Array.range(10).chunk(3) );
[[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9],[10]]

Or if you don't want an Array.range function, it's actually just a one-liner (excluding the fluff):

var ceil = Math.ceil;

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {value: function(n) {
    return Array(ceil(this.length/n)).fill().map((_,i) => this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));
}});

or

Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'chunk', {value: function(n) {
    return Array.from(Array(ceil(this.length/n)), (_,i)=>this.slice(i*n,i*n+n));
}});

Here's a ES6 version using reduce

const perChunk = 2 // items per chunk    

const inputArray = ['a','b','c','d','e']

const result = inputArray.reduce((resultArray, item, index) => { 
  const chunkIndex = Math.floor(index/perChunk)

  if(!resultArray[chunkIndex]) {
    resultArray[chunkIndex] = [] // start a new chunk
  }

  resultArray[chunkIndex].push(item)

  return resultArray
}, [])

console.log(result); // result: [['a','b'], ['c','d'], ['e']]

And you're ready to chain further map/reduce transformations. Your input array is left intact

If you prefer a shorter but less readable version, you can sprinkle some concat into the mix for the same end result:

inputArray.reduce((all,one,i) => {
   const ch = Math.floor(i/perChunk); 
   all[ch] = [].concat((all[ch]||[]),one); 
   return all
}, [])

You can use remainder operator to put consecutive items into different chunks:

const ch = (i % perChunk);