How to Remove Elements from an Array

There are several ways to remove elements from existing arrays in JavaScript, as we demonstrate on this page. You can remove elements from the end of an array using pop, from the beginning using shift, or from the middle using splice.

You can also remove elements from the end of an array by setting the length property to a value less than the current value. Any element whose index is greater than or equal to the new length will be removed:

var ar = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
ar.length = 4; // set length to remove elements
console.log( ar ); //  [1, 2, 3, 4]

You can remove array elements using the delete operator:

var ar = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
delete ar[4]; // delete element with index 4
console.log( ar ); // [1, 2, 3, 4, undefined, 6]
alert( ar ); // 1,2,3,4,,6

Using the delete operator does not affect the length property. Nor does it affect the indexes of subsequent elements. The array becomes sparse.[1] Compare with the splice method described below.

How to Remove Elements from End of Array

The pop method removes the last element of the array, returns that element, and updates the length property. The pop method modifies the array on which it is invoked.

var ar = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
ar.pop(); // returns 6
console.log( ar ); // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

How to Remove Elements from Beginning of Array

The shift method works much like the pop method except it removes the first element of the array instead of the last:

var ar = ['zero', 'one', 'two', 'three'];
ar.shift(); // returns "zero"
console.log( ar ); // ["one", "two", "three"]

The shift method returns the element that has been removed, updates the indexes of remaining elements, and updates the length property. It modifies the array on which it is invoked.

How to Remove Elements from Middle of Array

The splice method can be used to add or remove elements from an array. The first argument specifies the location at which to begin adding or removing elements. The second argument specifies the number of elements to remove. The third and subsequent arguments are optional; they specify elements to be added to the array.

Here we use the splice method to remove two elements starting from position three:

var ar = [1, 2, 3, 'a', 'b', 'c'];
// arguments: start position, number of elements to delete
console.log( ar.splice(3, 2) ); // ["a", "b"]
console.log( ar ); // [1, 2, 3, "c"]

We use console.log to display the value returned, which is an array containing the removed elements. Then we use console.log to display the array after modification by our use of the splice method.