How to Remove a Specific Item from an Array in JavaScript

Topic: JavaScript / jQueryPrev|Next

Answer: Use the splice() Method

You can use the splice() method to remove the item from an array at specific index in JavaScript. The syntax for removing array elements can be given with splice(startIndex, deleteCount).

Here, the startIndex parameter specify the index at which to start splicing the array, it is required; the second parameter deleteCount is the number of elements to remove (if it is set to 0 no element will be removed). Let's check out an example to understand how it works:

<script>    
    var colors = ["Red", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Orange"];
    var removed = colors.splice(2,1); // Removes the third element
    console.log(colors); // Prints: ["Red", "Green", "Yellow", "Orange"]
    console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Blue"] (one item array)
    console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 1
    
    var persons = ["Alice", "John", "Peter", "Clark", "Harry"];
    removed = persons.splice(2,2); // Removes the third and fourth elements
    console.log(persons); // Prints: ["Alice", "John", "Harry"]
    console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Peter", "Clark"]
    console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 2
    
    var fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Mango", "Orange", "Papaya"];
    removed = fruits.splice(2); // Removes all elements starting at index 2
    console.log(fruits); // Prints: ["Apple", "Banana"]
    console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Mango", "Orange", "Papaya"]
    console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 3
</script>

It is important to note that the splice() method modifies the original array on which it is called on, and returns a new array of the deleted elements, or an empty array if no elements were deleted.

Also, if the second argument (i.e. deleteCount) is omitted, all elements from the start to the end of the array are removed, as you can see in the above example.

Please check out the tutorial on JavaScript Arrays to learn more about arrays.

Related FAQ

Here are some more FAQ related to this topic:

• How to remove duplicate values from a JavaScript array
• How to create a string by joining the elements of an array in JavaScript
• How to loop through an array in JavaScript