Deep Copy of Arrays

With jPaq and many other JavaScript libraries, it is very easy to do a shallow copy of an array. On the other hand, it isn’t as easy to do a deep copy of arrays. For this reason, I plan on replacing the Array.prototype.clone() function with the following:

Array.prototype.clone = function(doDeepCopy) {
    if(doDeepCopy) {
        var encountered = [{
            a : this,
            b : []
        }];

        var item,
            levels = [{a:this, b:encountered[0].b, i:0}],
            level = 0,
            i = 0,
            len = this.length;

        while(i < len) {
            item = levels[level].a[i];
            if(Object.prototype.toString.call(item) === "[object Array]") {
                for(var j = encountered.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) {
                    if(encountered[j].a === item) {
                        levels[level].b.push(encountered[j].b);
                        break;
                    }
                }
                if(j < 0) {
                    encountered.push(j = {
                        a : item,
                        b : []
                    });
                    levels[level].b.push(j.b);
                    levels[level].i = i + 1;
                    levels[++level] = {a:item, b:j.b, i:0};
                    i = -1;
                    len = item.length;
                }
            }
            else {
                levels[level].b.push(item);
            }

            if(++i == len && level > 0) {
                levels.pop();
                i = levels[--level].i;
                len = levels[level].a.length;
            }
        }

        return encountered[0].b;
    }
    else {
        return this.slice(0);
    }
};

The above code can be used to make deep copies of arrays. It is important to note, though, that only sub-arrays are deeply copied, not objects. The reason so much code is used is to even make it possible to make a deep copy of a recursive array structure. The following code exemplifies how to use this function:

// Create a recursive array to prove that the cloning function can handle it.
var arrOriginal = [1,2,3];
arrOriginal.push(arrOriginal);

// Make a shallow copy of the recursive array.
var arrShallowCopy = arrOriginal.clone();

// Prove that the shallow copy isn't the same as a deep copy by showing that
// arrShallowCopy contains arrOriginal.
alert("It is " + (arrShallowCopy[3] === arrOriginal)
    + " that arrShallowCopy contains arrOriginal.");

// Make a deep copy of the recursive array.
var arrDeepCopy = arrOriginal.clone(true);

// Prove that the deep copy really works by showing that the original array is
// not the fourth item in arrDeepCopy but that this new array is.
alert("It is "
    + (arrDeepCopy[3] !== arrOriginal && arrDeepCopy === arrDeepCopy[3])
    + " that arrDeepCopy contains itself and not arrOriginal.");

If you want to use this code right now, there is nothing stopping you. The code doesn’t require any library references and is fully cross-browser compatible. A JSBin example can be found here. It even works in JScript. The only thing that I ask is that you give credit where it is due. 😀