Array.prototype.copyWithin()

The copyWithin() method shallow copies part of an array to another location in the same array and returns it without modifying its length.

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Syntax

copyWithin(target)
copyWithin(target, start)
copyWithin(target, start, end)

Parameters

target

Zero-based index at which to copy the sequence to. If negative, target will be counted from the end.

If target is at or greater than arr.length, nothing will be copied. If target is positioned after start, the copied sequence will be trimmed to fit arr.length.

start Optional

Zero-based index at which to start copying elements from. If negative, start will be counted from the end.

If start is omitted, copyWithin will copy from index 0.

end Optional

Zero-based index at which to end copying elements from. copyWithin copies up to but not including end. If negative, end will be counted from the end.

If end is omitted, copyWithin will copy until the last index (default to arr.length).

Return value

The modified array.

Description

The copyWithin works like C and C++'s memmove, and is a high-performance method to shift the data of an Array. This especially applies to the TypedArray method of the same name. The sequence is copied and pasted as one operation; pasted sequence will have the copied values even when the copy and paste region overlap.

The copyWithin function is intentionally generic, it does not require that its this value be an Array object.

The copyWithin method is a mutable method. It does not alter the length of this, but it will change its content and create new properties, if necessary.

Examples

Using copyWithin

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(-2)
// [1, 2, 3, 1, 2]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, 3)
// [4, 5, 3, 4, 5]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, 3, 4)
// [4, 2, 3, 4, 5]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(-2, -3, -1)
// [1, 2, 3, 3, 4]

[].copyWithin.call({length: 5, 3: 1}, 0, 3)
// {0: 1, 3: 1, length: 5}

// ES2015 Typed Arrays are subclasses of Array
const i32a = new Int32Array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

i32a.copyWithin(0, 2)
// Int32Array [3, 4, 5, 4, 5]

// On platforms that are not yet ES2015 compliant:
[].copyWithin.call(new Int32Array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]), 0, 3, 4);
// Int32Array [4, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-array.prototype.copywithin

Browser compatibility

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See also