Array

The JavaScript Array class is a global object that is used in the construction of arrays; which are high-level, list-like objects.

Description

Arrays are list-like objects whose prototype has methods to perform traversal and mutation operations. Neither the length of a JavaScript array nor the types of its elements are fixed. Since an array's length can change at any time, and data can be stored at non-contiguous locations in the array, JavaScript arrays are not guaranteed to be dense; this depends on how the programmer chooses to use them. In general, these are convenient characteristics; but if these features are not desirable for your particular use, you might consider using typed arrays.

Arrays cannot use strings as element indexes (as in an associative array) but must use integers. Setting or accessing via non-integers using bracket notation (or dot notation) will not set or retrieve an element from the array list itself, but will set or access a variable associated with that array's object property collection. The array's object properties and list of array elements are separate, and the array's traversal and mutation operations cannot be applied to these named properties.

Common operations

Create an Array

var fruits = ['Apple', 'Banana'];

console.log(fruits.length);
// 2

Access (index into) an Array item

var first = fruits[0];
// Apple

var last = fruits[fruits.length - 1];
// Banana

Loop over an Array

fruits.forEach(function(item, index, array) {
  console.log(item, index);
});
// Apple 0
// Banana 1

Add to the end of an Array

var newLength = fruits.push('Orange');
// ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"]

Remove from the end of an Array

var last = fruits.pop(); // remove Orange (from the end)
// ["Apple", "Banana"];

Remove from the front of an Array

var first = fruits.shift(); // remove Apple from the front
// ["Banana"];

Add to the front of an Array

var newLength = fruits.unshift('Strawberry') // add to the front
// ["Strawberry", "Banana"];

Find the index of an item in the Array

fruits.push('Mango');
// ["Strawberry", "Banana", "Mango"]

var pos = fruits.indexOf('Banana');
// 1

Remove an item by index position

var removedItem = fruits.splice(pos, 1); // this is how to remove an item
                                        
// ["Strawberry", "Mango"]

Remove items from an index position

var vegetables = ['Cabbage', 'Turnip', 'Radish', 'Carrot'];
console.log(vegetables); 
// ["Cabbage", "Turnip", "Radish", "Carrot"]

var pos = 1, n = 2;

var removedItems = vegetables.splice(pos, n); 
// this is how to remove items, n defines the number of items to be removed,
// from that position(pos) onward to the end of array.

console.log(vegetables); 
// ["Cabbage", "Carrot"] (the original array is changed)

console.log(removedItems); 
// ["Turnip", "Radish"]

Copy an Array

var shallowCopy = fruits.slice(); // this is how to make a copy
// ["Strawberry", "Mango"]

Accessing array elements

JavaScript arrays are zero-indexed: the first element of an array is at index 0, and the last element is at the index equal to the value of the array's length property minus 1. Using an invalid index number returns undefined.

var arr = ['this is the first element', 'this is the second element', 'this is the last element'];
console.log(arr[0]);              // logs 'this is the first element'
console.log(arr[1]);              // logs 'this is the second element'
console.log(arr[arr.length - 1]); // logs 'this is the last element'

Array elements are object properties in the same way that toString is a property, but trying to access an element of an array as follows throws a syntax error because the property name is not valid:

console.log(arr.0); // a syntax error

There is nothing special about JavaScript arrays and the properties that cause this. JavaScript properties that begin with a digit cannot be referenced with dot notation; and must be accessed using bracket notation. For example, if you had an object with a property named '3d', it can only be referenced using bracket notation. E.g.:

var years = [1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010];
console.log(years.0);   // a syntax error
console.log(years[0]);  // works properly

renderer.3d.setTexture(model, 'character.png');     // a syntax error
renderer['3d'].setTexture(model, 'character.png');  // works properly

Note that in the 3d example, '3d' had to be quoted. It's possible to quote the JavaScript array indexes as well (e.g., years['2'] instead of years[2]), although it's not necessary. The 2 in years[2] is coerced into a string by the JavaScript engine through an implicit toString conversion. It is, for this reason, that '2' and '02' would refer to two different slots on the years object and the following example could be true:

console.log(years['2'] != years['02']);

Similarly, object properties which happen to be reserved words(!) can only be accessed as string literals in bracket notation (but it can be accessed by dot notation in firefox 40.0a2 at least):

var promise = {
  'var'  : 'text',
  'array': [1, 2, 3, 4]
};

console.log(promise['var']);

Relationship between length and numerical properties

A JavaScript array's length property and numerical properties are connected. Several of the built-in array methods (e.g., join(), slice(), indexOf(), etc.) take into account the value of an array's length property when they're called. Other methods (e.g., push(), splice(), etc.) also result in updates to an array's length property.

var fruits = [];
fruits.push('banana', 'apple', 'peach');

console.log(fruits.length); // 3

When setting a property on a JavaScript array when the property is a valid array index and that index is outside the current bounds of the array, the engine will update the array's length property accordingly:

fruits[5] = 'mango';
console.log(fruits[5]); // 'mango'
console.log(Object.keys(fruits));  // ['0', '1', '2', '5']
console.log(fruits.length); // 6

Increasing the length.

fruits.length = 10;
console.log(Object.keys(fruits)); // ['0', '1', '2', '5']
console.log(fruits.length); // 10

Decreasing the length property does, however, delete elements.

fruits.length = 2;
console.log(Object.keys(fruits)); // ['0', '1']
console.log(fruits.length); // 2

This is explained further on the Array.length page.

Creating an array using the result of a match

The result of a match between a regular expression and a string can create a JavaScript array. This array has properties and elements which provide information about the match. Such an array is returned by RegExp.exec, String.match, and String.replace. To help explain these properties and elements, look at the following example and then refer to the table below:

// Match one d followed by one or more b's followed by one d
// Remember matched b's and the following d
// Ignore case

var myRe = /d(b+)(d)/i;
var myArray = myRe.exec('cdbBdbsbz');

The properties and elements returned from this match are as follows:

Constructor

Array()

Creates Array objects.

Static properties

Array.length

The Array constructor's length property whose value is 1.

get Array[@@species]

The constructor function that is used to create derived objects.

Static methods

Array.from()

Creates a new Array instance from an array-like or iterable object.

Array.isArray()

Returns true if a variable is an array, if not false.

Array.of()

Creates a new Array instance with a variable number of arguments, regardless of number or type of the arguments.

Array instances

Array instances inherit from Array.prototype. As with all constructors, you can change the constructor's prototype object to make changes to all Array instances. For example, you can add new methods and properties to extend all Array objects. This is used for polyfilling, for example.

However, adding non-standard methods to the array object can cause issues later, either with your own code, or when adding features to JavaScript.

Little known fact: Array.prototype itself is an Array:

Array.isArray(Array.prototype); // true

Instance properties

Array.prototype.constructor

Specifies the function that creates an object's prototype.

Array.prototype.length

Reflects the number of elements in an array.

Array.prototype[@@unscopables]

A symbol containing property names to exclude from a with binding scope.

Instance methods

Mutator methods

These methods modify the array:

Array.prototype.copyWithin()

Copies a sequence of array elements within the array.

Array.prototype.fill()

Fills all the elements of an array from a start index to an end index with a static value.

Array.prototype.pop()

Removes the last element from an array and returns that element.

Array.prototype.push()

Adds one or more elements to the end of an array and returns the new length of the array.

Array.prototype.reverse()

Reverses the order of the elements of an array in place — the first becomes the last, and the last becomes the first.

Array.prototype.shift()

Removes the first element from an array and returns that element.

Array.prototype.sort()

Sorts the elements of an array in place and returns the array.

Array.prototype.splice()

Adds and/or removes elements from an array.

Array.prototype.unshift()

Adds one or more elements to the front of an array and returns the new length of the array.

Accessor methods

These methods do not modify the array and return some representation of the array.

Array.prototype.concat()

Returns a new array that is this array joined with other array(s) and/or value(s).

Array.prototype.includes()

Determines whether an array contains a certain element, returning true or false as appropriate.

Array.prototype.indexOf()

Returns the first (least) index of an element within the array equal to the specified value, or -1 if none is found.

Array.prototype.join()

Joins all elements of an array into a string.

Array.prototype.lastIndexOf()

Returns the last (greatest) index of an element within the array equal to the specified value, or -1 if none is found.

Array.prototype.slice()

Extracts a section of an array and returns a new array.

Array.prototype.toSource()

Returns an array literal representing the specified array; you can use this value to create a new array. Overrides the Object.prototype.toSource() method.

Array.prototype.toString()

Returns a string representing the array and its elements. Overrides the Object.prototype.toString() method.

Array.prototype.toLocaleString()

Returns a localized string representing the array and its elements. Overrides the Object.prototype.toLocaleString() method.

Iteration methods

Several methods take as arguments functions to be called back while processing the array. When these methods are called, the length of the array is sampled, and any element added beyond this length from within the callback is not visited. Other changes to the array (setting the value of or deleting an element) may affect the results of the operation if the method visits the changed element afterwards. While the specific behavior of these methods in such cases is well-defined, you should not rely upon it so as not to confuse others who might read your code. If you must mutate the array, copy into a new array instead.

Array.prototype.entries()

Returns a new Array Iterator object that contains the key/value pairs for each index in the array.

Array.prototype.every()

Returns true if every element in this array satisfies the provided testing function.

Array.prototype.filter()

Creates a new array with all of the elements of this array for which the provided filtering function returns true.

Array.prototype.find()

Returns the found value in the array, if an element in the array satisfies the provided testing function or undefined if not found.

Array.prototype.findIndex()

Returns the found index in the array, if an element in the array satisfies the provided testing function or -1 if not found.

Array.prototype.forEach()

Calls a function for each element in the array.

Array.prototype.keys()

Returns a new Array Iterator that contains the keys for each index in the array.

Array.prototype.map()

Creates a new array with the results of calling a provided function on every element in this array.

Array.prototype.reduce()

Apply a function against an accumulator and each value of the array (from left-to-right) as to reduce it to a single value.

Array.prototype.reduceRight()

Apply a function against an accumulator and each value of the array (from right-to-left) as to reduce it to a single value.

Array.prototype.some()

Returns true if at least one element in this array satisfies the provided testing function.

Array.prototype.values()

Returns a new Array Iterator object that contains the values for each index in the array.

Array.prototype[@@iterator]()

Returns a new Array Iterator object that contains the values for each index in the array.

Examples

Creating an array

The following example creates an array, msgArray, with a length of 0, then assigns values to msgArray[0] and msgArray[99], changing the length of the array to 100.

var msgArray = [];
msgArray[0] = 'Hello';
msgArray[99] = 'world';

if (msgArray.length === 100) {
  console.log('The length is 100.');
}

Creating a two-dimensional array

The following creates a chess board as a two-dimensional array of strings. The first move is made by copying the 'p' in (6,4) to (4,4). The old position (6,4) is made blank.

var board = [ 
  ['R','N','B','Q','K','B','N','R'],
  ['P','P','P','P','P','P','P','P'],
  [' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '],
  [' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '],
  [' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '],
  [' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '],
  ['p','p','p','p','p','p','p','p'],
  ['r','n','b','q','k','b','n','r'] ];

console.log(board.join('\n') + '\n\n');

// Move King's Pawn forward 2
board[4][4] = board[6][4];
board[6][4] = ' ';
console.log(board.join('\n'));

Here is the output:

R,N,B,Q,K,B,N,R
P,P,P,P,P,P,P,P
 , , , , , , , 
 , , , , , , , 
 , , , , , , , 
 , , , , , , , 
p,p,p,p,p,p,p,p
r,n,b,q,k,b,n,r

R,N,B,Q,K,B,N,R
P,P,P,P,P,P,P,P
 , , , , , , , 
 , , , , , , , 
 , , , ,p, , , 
 , , , , , , , 
p,p,p,p, ,p,p,p
r,n,b,q,k,b,n,r

Using an array to tabulate a set of values

values = [];
for (var x = 0; x < 10; x++){
 values.push([
  2 ** x,
  2 * x ** 2
 ])
};
console.table(values)

Results in

0	1	0
1	2	2
2	4	8
3	8	18
4	16	32
5	32	50
6	64	72
7	128	98
8	256	128
9	512	162

(First column is the (index))

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• JavaScript Guide: “Indexing object properties”
• JavaScript Guide: “Indexed collections: Array object”
• Array comprehensions
• Typed Arrays