Arrays

11. Arrays#

An array is a sequence of items (called elements) stored in a specific order. Arrays can hold any data type, including numbers, strings, booleans, and even other arrays.

11.1. Defining an Array#

You can create an array using square brackets

Syntax

[item0, item1, item2, ...., itemN]

Start and end the array definition with square brackets [].
Reference each item, e.g. variable or expression, in the desired order
Separate each item with a comma ,

In the example below an array containing three strings is created, assigned to the variable fruits and printed

let fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];
console.log(fruits); // Prints: ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

Mixing Data Types

You can put elements of different data types into a single array.

The example below shows mixing strings, numbers and booleans.

let myData = ["Hello World", 3.14, false];
console.log(myData); // Prints: ["Hello World", 3.14, false]

11.2. Indexing#

Arrays are zero-indexed, meaning the first element is at position 0, the second is at position 1, and so on. You can access any element using its index.

let colors = ["red", "green", "blue"];
console.log(colors[0]);
console.log(colors[2]);

red
blue

11.3. Adding Elements#

Let’s look at the three main ways you can insert elements into an array.

Add at the End

To add to the end of an array, use the push array method.

let numbers = [10, 20, 30];
numbers.push(40); // Adds 40 to the end
console.log(numbers);

[10, 20, 30, 40]

Add at the Start

Adding at the start can be achieved with the unshift method, we’ll see why it’s called that in a moment.

let animals = ["cat", "dog"];
animals.unshift("rabbit"); // Adds "rabbit" at index 2
console.log(animals);

["rabbit", "cat", "dog",]

Add at any Position

Inserting at a given position can be achieved with the splice method.

The syntax is:

array.splice(start, deleteCount, item1, item2, ..., itemN);

where:

array is the array you are modifying
start is the index where the new element is to be placed
deleteCount is the number of elements to remove after the start, in case you want to replace/remove elements
itemN are the new elements to insert

For inserting an element we usually set deleteCount to 0.

Example

let animals = ["cat", "dog"];
animals.splice(2, 0, "rabbit"); // Adds "rabbit" at index 2
console.log(animals);

["cat", "rabbit", "dog"]

11.4. Removing Elements#

Like adding elements, we have a variety of ways to remove elements from arrays.

Remove from the End

The pop method removes the last element of an array.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3];
numbers.pop(); // Removes 3
console.log(numbers); // Prints: [1, 2]

Remove from the Start

The shift method removes the first element of an array. You can think of this like shifting the array to the left and the element in the negative position is dropped.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3];
numbers.shift(); // Removes 1
console.log(numbers); // Prints: [2, 3]

Remove from any Position

The splice method can be used to remove one or more elements by ignoring the itemN parameters.

let fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];
fruits.splice(1, 1); // Removes 1 element at index 1
console.log(fruits); // Prints: ["apple", "cherry"]

fruits.splice(1, 0, "orange"); // Inserts "orange" at index 1
console.log(fruits); // Prints: ["apple", "orange", "cherry"]

11.5. Useful Methods#

Length of an Array

The length attribute returns the number of elements in an array.

let fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];
console.log(fruits.length); // Prints: 3

Reverse an Array

Use the reverse method to flip the order of elements in an array. This operation happens in place, meaning that the original array is changed.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3];
numbers.reverse();
console.log(numbers); // Prints: [3, 2, 1]

Joining Elements into a String

You can join the elements into a single string with the join method. This method takes a string parameter, which is used as the separator.

let words = ["JavaScript", "is", "fun"];
console.log(words.join(" ")); // Prints: "JavaScript is fun"