JavaScript Array Pop
Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the JavaScript Array pop()
method to remove the last element from an array.
Introduction to the JavaScript Array pop() method
The Array.prototype.pop()
method removes the last element from an array and returns the removed element. Here’s the syntax of the pop()
method:
array.pop()
Code language: CSS (css)
The pop()
method changes the length
property of the array. If the array is empty, the pop()
returns undefined
.
JavaScript pop() method example
Let’s take some examples of using the pop()
method.
1) Using the JavaScript array pop() method to remove the last element of an array
The following example uses the pop()
method to remove the last element of the numbers
array:
const numbers = [10, 20, 30];
const last = numbers.pop();console.log(last); // 30
console.log(numbers.length); // 2
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
30
2
In this example, the pop()
method removes the number 30
from the numbers
array. Also, it decreases the value of the length
property of the numbers
array to 2
.
The following picture illustrates how the pop()
method works:
2) Using the JavaScript array pop() method with an empty array
The following example calls the pop()
method on an empty array. In this case, the pop()
method returns undefined
and the length
is of the array is zero:
const numbers = [];
const last = numbers.pop();console.log(last);
console.log(numbers.length);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
undefined
0
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Using JavaScript pop() method with array-like objects
The pop()
method is generic. Therefore, you can use the call()
or apply()
to call the pop()
method on the array-like object. Internally, the pop()
uses the length
property of the array-like object to determine the last element to remove.
See the following example:
let greetings = {
0: 'Hi',
1: 'Hello',
2: 'Howdy',
length: 2,
removeLast() {
return [].pop.call(this);
},
};let greting = greetings.removeLast();
console.log(greting);
console.log(greetings);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
'Howdy'{
'0': 'Hi',
'1': 'Hello',
length: 2,
removeLast: [Function: removeLast]
}
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
How it works.
First, define the greetings
object that has:
- Four properties 0, 1, 2, and length.
- One method
removeLast()
that uses thecall()
method of an array to invoke thepop()
method.
Second, call the removeLast()
method of the greetings
object:
let greting = greetings.removeLast();
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Third, output the removed element (greeting
) and the greetings
object to the console:
console.log(greting);
console.log(greetings);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Summary
- Use the
pop()
method to remove the last element of an array. - Use the
call()
orapply()
to call thepop()
method on an array-like object.