A few days ago I published my first ever npm package, a JavaScript implementation of a Trie data storage model.

What is a Trie?

A Trie is a model for storing strings in a tree-like structure. Each branch in the tree represents a single character which allows for fast, depth-first searching. If we had a dictionary with the words CAR, CAT and CURL, we could visualise the Trie like this:

Trie model

Because CA is a prefix for both CAT and CAR, the T and R can become child branches of the CA prefix. Wikipedia has a good explanation of Tries, for more information.

What does it do?

The Trie takes a predefined dictionary (e.g. an array of words) and performs operations on it such as prefix matching, searching and checking the existence of a string. Because the data is modeled in a Trie, we can find results quickly.

Why is it fast?

Let’s say we had an array of 100,000 words and we wanted to check that the prefix A- existed, i.e. strings that begin with the letter A. Using an array, we’d need to run a function against every item in the array to filter out valid prefixes. Perhaps something like this:

const array = ['cat', 'dog', 'lion', 'tiger'];

const filterByPrefix = function(prefix, array) {
  return array.filter((val) => {
    return val.substring(0, prefix.length) === prefix

fiterByPrefix('c', array); // ['cat'];

The Trie on the other hand is far more efficient because instead of searching every possible item, we simply validate each character in turn against the Trie, storing the current position in the Trie as we recurse downwards to the next letter.

If we were to search the Trie illustrated in the image above for the prefix ABBR-, we’d only need to perform one iteration, because the letter A does not exist at the root level. So after one iteration, we can break out of our loop and conclude that the prefix does not exist, without having to recurse through the whole model.

How can I use it?

It is available as an npm package. To install, simply:

npm install trie-prefix-tree --save

Once added to your package dependencies, you can import the module using Node’s require() method:

const trie = require('trie-prefix-tree');

Or by using ES2015 Modules, if that’s what you prefer:

import trie from 'trie-prefix-tree';

Then, you need to instantiate the Trie with a predefined dictionary, e.g.

import trie from 'trie-prefix-tree';

const myTrie = trie(['dog', 'cat', 'lion', 'bear', 'parrot', 'koala', 'kitten']);

Once you’ve instantiated the Trie, you can perform different operations on it, such as checking a prefix exists:

myTrie.isPrefix('k');  // true
myTrie.isPrefix('ba'); // false

Retrieving a list of words with the given prefix:

myTrie.getPrefix('k');   // ['kitten', 'koala']
myTrie.getPrefix('par'); // ['parrot']

Retrieving a full list of words in the Trie:


You can also add and remove items from the Trie, and these methods can be chained:

myTrie.getWords(); // ['bear', 'cat', 'husky', 'kitten', koala', lion', 'parrot']

You can even retrieve anagrams and sub-anagrams of given letters:

myTrie.getAnagrams('noil'); // ['lion']
myTrie.getSubAnagrams('racetb'); // ['bear', 'cat']

When you have a large amount of data, Tries are very powerful and can be used to perform fast and efficient retrievals.

If you wish to contribute to the project, you can find it over on GitHub here. Feel free to add suggestions, ask questions or submit an issue.

Thanks for reading.