The Unusual of JavaScript Arrays and their length Property

The Unusual of JavaScript Arrays and their length Property

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3 min read


The length Update

An update in an array length modifies the array.

See the example below:

const fruits = [];
fruits[132] = "Apple";

console.log( fruits.length ); // 133 => last index + 1
console.log( fruits.length - 100 ); // 33

Writable length property

We can reduce the initial length of an array by the length property.

See the example below:

const fruits = [ 'Apple', 'Orange', 'Melon' ];
fruits.length = 2

console.log( fruits[0] ); // Apple
console.log( fruits[1] ); // Orange
console.log( fruits[2] ); // Undefined

This means to clear an array you can use, arr.length = 0


new Array(length)

As shown in the previous article, the other syntax to create an array is :

array = new Array(elem1, elem2, ..., elemN)

See the example below:

const fruits = new Array('Apple', 'Orange', 'Melon');

console.log( fruits[0] ); // Apple
console.log( fruits[1] ); // Orange

When the constructor has only one argument as a number, the argument becomes the length of the object.

const arr = new Array(3);

console.log( arr[0] ); // undefined
console.log( arr[1] ); // undefined
console.log( arr[2] ); // undefined

console.log( arr.length ) // 3

Multidimensional Arrays

Arrays that are items to another array create 2 or more or multidimensional array. A good example is the storage of matrices.

const matrix = [
  [1, 2, 3],
  [4, 5, 6],
  [7, 8, 9]
];

alert( matrix[1][1] ); // 5

Arrays toString

An array can be converted to a string by the syntax shown below:

array.toString()

See the example below:

const arr = [ 1, 2, 3 ];

console.log( arr ); // [ 1,2,3 ];
const toStr = arr.toString()
console.log( toStr, typeof toStr ); // 1,2,3 string

Alternatively, you can use the syntax shown below:

String(array)

See the example below:

const arr = [ 1, 2, 3 ];

console.log( arr ); // [ 1,2,3 ];
const toStr = String(arr)
console.log( toStr, typeof toStr ); // 1,2,3 string

Alternatively, an array in square notation can be used as a string conversion.

console.log( [] + 1 ); // "1"
console.log( [1] + 1 ); // "11"
console.log( [1,2] + 1 ); // "1,21"

The above conversion is also true for a string.

See the example below:

console.log( "" + 1 ); // "1"
console.log( "1" + 1 ); // "11"
console.log( "1,2" + 1 ); // "1,21"

Identical Arrays Comparison

Two created identical arrays in JavaScript are never the same.

See the example below:

console.log( [] === [] ); // false
console.log( [0] === [0] ); // false

Deleting items/elements in an array

The delete an element in an array, use the syntax shown below:

// delete an item in an array
delete array[item]

// delete multiple items in an array
delete array[item1], delete array[item2], ..., delete array[item3]

A deleted element in an array is reassigned to a new data of undefined.

See the example below:

const fruits = [ "Apple", "Orange", "Melon", "Banana" ];

console.log( fruits[1] ); // Orange

delete fruits[1];

console.log( fruits[1] ); // undefined
console.log(fruits.length); // 4

The example above is the same as below:

const fruits = [ "Apple", "Orange", "Melon", "Banana" ];

console.log( fruits[1] ); // Orange

fruits[1] = undefined; 

console.log(fruits.length); // 4

Happy coding!!!


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