What is the difference between using the delete
operator on the array element as opposed to using the Array.splice
method?
For example:
myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
delete myArray[1];
// or
myArray.splice (1, 1);
Why even have the splice method if I can delete array elements like I can with objects?
delete
will delete the object property, but will not reindex the array or update its length. This makes it appears as if it is undefined:
> myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
["a", "b", "c", "d"]
> delete myArray[0]
true
> myArray[0]
undefined
Note that it is not in fact set to the value undefined
, rather the property is removed from the array, making it appear undefined. The Chrome dev tools make this distinction clear by printing empty
when logging the array.
> myArray[0]
undefined
> myArray
[empty, "b", "c", "d"]
myArray.splice(start, deleteCount)
actually removes the element, reindexes the array, and changes its length.
> myArray = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
["a", "b", "c", "d"]
> myArray.splice(0, 2)
["a", "b"]
> myArray
["c", "d"]