Remove the first Element from an Array in JavaScript

Remove the first Element from an Array #

To remove the first element from an array, call the shift method on the array, e.g. arr.shift(). The shift method removes the first element from an array and returns the removed element.

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const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

const firstElement = arr.shift();
console.log(firstElement); // 👉️ a

console.log(arr); // 👉️ ['b', 'c']

In the code snippet we used the Array.shift method to remove the first element from the array.

The shift method removes the element at index 0 of the array.

If you call the Array.shift method on an empty array, the method returns undefined.

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const arr = [];

const firstElement = arr.shift();
console.log(firstElement); // 👉️ undefined

console.log(arr); // 👉️ []

We can use the Array.slice method to get a new array, containing all array elements, but the first.

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const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

const withoutFirst = arr.slice(1);
console.log(withoutFirst); // 👉️ ['b', 'c']

console.log(arr); // 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

In the code snippet we pass a starting index of 1 and no end index to the Array.slice method.

The method returns a shallow copy of the original array with all elements starting at index 1.

The Array.slice method is very different from Array.shift because it does not change the contents of the original array.

Further Reading #

• Check if Array has all Elements of Another Array - JavaScript
• Check if Arrays contain Common Elements in JavaScript
• Check if Array Contains an Object in JavaScript
• Make Array.indexOf() case insensitive in JavaScript
• Filter an Array of Objects based on a property - JavaScript
• Filter an Array with Multiple Conditions in JavaScript
• Get the first N elements from an Array in JavaScript
• Get the last N elements from an Array in JavaScript
• How to check if an Array Index exists in JavaScript
• Remove Undefined Values from an Array in JavaScript
• Remove Null Values from an Array in Javascript
• Remove Empty Elements from an Array in JavaScript