Baseline Widely available
The shift()
method of Array
instances removes the first element from an array and returns that removed element. This method changes the length of the array.
const array1 = [1, 2, 3];
const firstElement = array1.shift();
console.log(array1);
// Expected output: Array [2, 3]
console.log(firstElement);
// Expected output: 1
Syntax Parameters
None.
Return valueThe removed element from the array; undefined
if the array is empty.
The shift()
method shifts all values to the left by 1 and decrements the length by 1, resulting in the first element being removed. If the length
property is 0, undefined
is returned.
The pop()
method has similar behavior to shift()
, but applied to the last element in an array.
The shift()
method is a mutating method. It changes the length and the content of this
. In case you want the value of this
to be the same, but return a new array with the first element removed, you can use arr.slice(1)
instead.
The shift()
method is generic. It only expects the this
value to have a length
property and integer-keyed properties. Although strings are also array-like, this method is not suitable to be applied on them, as strings are immutable.
The following code displays the myFish
array before and after removing its first element. It also displays the removed element:
const myFish = ["angel", "clown", "mandarin", "surgeon"];
console.log("myFish before:", myFish);
// myFish before: ['angel', 'clown', 'mandarin', 'surgeon']
const shifted = myFish.shift();
console.log("myFish after:", myFish);
// myFish after: ['clown', 'mandarin', 'surgeon']
console.log("Removed this element:", shifted);
// Removed this element: angel
Using shift() method in while loop
The shift() method is often used in condition inside while loop. In the following example every iteration will remove the next element from an array, until it is empty:
const names = ["Andrew", "Tyrone", "Paul", "Maria", "Gayatri"];
while (typeof (i = names.shift()) !== "undefined") {
console.log(i);
}
// Andrew, Tyrone, Paul, Maria, Gayatri
Calling shift() on non-array objects
The shift()
method reads the length
property of this
. If the normalized length is 0, length
is set to 0
again (whereas it may be negative or undefined
before). Otherwise, the property at 0
is returned, and the rest of the properties are shifted left by one. The property at length - 1
is deleted, and the length
property is decremented by one.
const arrayLike = {
length: 3,
unrelated: "foo",
2: 4,
};
console.log(Array.prototype.shift.call(arrayLike));
// undefined, because it is an empty slot
console.log(arrayLike);
// { '1': 4, length: 2, unrelated: 'foo' }
const plainObj = {};
// There's no length property, so the length is 0
Array.prototype.shift.call(plainObj);
console.log(plainObj);
// { length: 0 }
Specifications Browser compatibility See also
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