Introduction to Arrays

Let’s say you want to buy some groceries from the market, and you wrote them down in a list.

In JavaScript, this “list” needs to be placed in an array. An array is a special kind of object that stores list-like information.

Creating arrays

You create an array by writing square brackets:

const emptyArray = []

You can add values to the array as you create it. Make sure you separate each value with a comma.

const groceriesToBuy = ['cabbage', 'tomato sauce', 'salmon']

Array values

Arrays can contain any valid JavaScript value. It can store primitives (like Strings and Numbers) and objects (like objects, other arrays, and even functions).

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']
const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4]
const booleans = [true, true, false, true]
const objects = [{ name: 'Zell' }, { name: 'Vincy' }]
const arrays = [
  [1, 2, 3],
  [1, 2, 3],
]

Arrays can get difficult to read if everything is written in a single line. You can put each item on a new line to make it easier to read.

// One item in one line
const groceriesToBuy = ['cabbage', 'tomato sauce', 'salmon']

// Arrays separated with new lines to make them easier to read
const arrays = [
  [1, 2, 3],
  [1, 2, 3],
]

// Objects separated with new lines to make them easier to read
const objects = [
  { firstName: 'Zell', lastName: 'Liew' },
  { firstName: 'Vincy', lastName: 'Zhang' },
]

Checking the number of items in an array

Arrays have properties and methods since they are objects. You can check the number of items in an array with the length property.

const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4]
console.log(numbers.length) // 4

Getting the value of an item

To get the value of an item in an array, you write the name of the array, followed by the position of the item in square brackets. This position is called the index.

// Where n is the index
const item = array[n]

In JavaScript:

• First item has index 0,
• Second item has index 1
• Third item has index 2
• And so on.

Indexes that start from zero are called zero-based indexes.

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']

const firstItem = strings[0] // One
const secondItem = strings[1] // Two
const thirdItem = strings[2] // Three
const fourthItem = strings[3] // Four

If you provide an index that exceeds the number of items in the array, you’ll get undefined.

const tenthItem = strings[9]
console.log(tenthItem) // undefined

Getting items from the end

If you want to get the last item in the array, you can use Array.length to help you out:

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']
const lastItem = strings[strings.length - 1]

console.log(lastItem) // Four

Here’s how this works:

1. The last item, Four is in the fourth position.
2. Fourth position means index 3.
3. array.length counts the number of items in the array. (This gives 4).
4. To get the last item, you can use array.length - 1 (which is 4 - 1 = 3).

Feel free to use the array.length method to get the second last, third last, or even the fourth-last item.

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']

const lastItem = strings[strings.length - 1] // Four
const secondLastItem = strings[strings.length - 2] // Three
const thirdLastItem = strings[strings.length - 3] // Two

Setting the value of an item

You can change the value of an item by assigning a value to it. You use = to assign a value.

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']

// Assigning a new value to the first item
strings[0] = 1

console.log(strings) // [1, 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']

If you provide an index that exceeds the number of items in the array, JavaScript will help you create the intermediary items and fill them with undefined. (On Google Chrome, it may say empty. Nobody knows why they use empty).

For example, let’s say you have an array that contains four items. You add a string, ten as the tenth item.

const strings = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four']
strings[9] = 'Ten'

console.log(strings)

Here, JavaScript creates items 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and fills them with undefined before setting the tenth item as Ten.

Exercise

1. Make an empty array that contains nothing.
2. Make an array that contains three items.
3. Given this a list of people (below), do the following:
   1. Get Franklin Roosevelt from the people array
   2. Set Thomas Edison to Inventor of the lightbulb

let people = ['Franklin Roosevelt', 'Thomas Edison', 'Benjamin Franklin']