The Array object is used to store multiple values in a single variable.
Try it Yourself - Examples
Create an array
Create an array, assign values to it, and write the values to the output.
(You can find more examples at the bottom of this page)
Complete Array Object Reference
For a complete reference of all the properties and methods that can be used with the Array object, go to our complete Array object reference.
The reference contains a brief description and examples of use for each property and method!
What is an Array?
An array is a special variable, which can hold more than one value, at a time.
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in single variables could look like this:
Code:
var car1="Saab";
var car2="Volvo";
var car3="BMW";
However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you had not 3 cars, but 300?
The best solution here is to use an array!
An array can hold all your variable values under a single name. And you can access the values by referring to the array name.
Each element in the array has its own ID so that it can be easily accessed.
Create an Array
An array can be defined in three ways.
The following code creates an Array object called myCars:
1:
Code:
var myCars=new Array(); // regular array (add an optional integer
myCars[0]="Saab"; // argument to control array's size)
myCars[1]="Volvo";
myCars[2]="BMW";
2:
Code:
var myCars=new Array("Saab","Volvo","BMW"); // condensed array
3:
Code:
var myCars=["Saab","Volvo","BMW"]; // literal array
Note: If you specify numbers or true/false values inside the array then the variable type will be Number or Boolean, instead of String.
Access an Array
You can refer to a particular element in an array by referring to the name of the array and the index number. The index number starts at 0.
The following code line:
Code:
document.write(myCars[0]);
will result in the following output:
Modify Values in an Array
To modify a value in an existing array, just add a new value to the array with a specified index number:
Now, the following code line:
Code:
document.write(myCars[0]);
will result in the following output:
More Examples
Join two arrays - concat()
Join three arrays - concat()
Join all elements of an array into a string - join()
Remove the last element of an array - pop()
Add new elements to the end of an array - push()
Reverse the order of the elements in an array - reverse()
Remove the first element of an array - shift()
Select elements from an array - slice()
Sort an array (alphabetically and ascending) - sort()
Sort numbers (numerically and ascending) - sort()
Sort numbers (numerically and descending) - sort()
Add an element to position 2 in an array - splice()
Convert an array to a string - toString()
Add new elements to the beginning of an array - unshift()