JavaScript Array shift()

let languages = ["English", "Java", "Python", "JavaScript"];

// removes the first element of the array
let first = languages.shift()
;
console.log(first);
console.log(languages);

// Output: English
//         [ 'Java', 'Python', 'JavaScript' ]

shift() Syntax

The syntax of the shift() method is:

arr.shift()

Here, arr is an array.

shift() Parameters

The shift() method does not accept any arguments.

shift() Return Value

• Removes the first element from array and returns that value.
• Returns undefined if the array is empty.

After removing the element at the 0^th index, it shifts other values to consecutive indexes down.

Example: Using shift() method

var languages = ["JavaScript", "Python", "Java", "C++", "Lua"];

var shifted = languages.shift();

console.log(languages); // [ 'Python', 'Java', 'C++', 'Lua' ]
console.log(shifted); // JavaScript

// shift returns any type of object
var numbers = [
  [1, 2, 3],
  [4, 5, 6],
  [-5, -4, -3],
];
console.log(numbers.shift()); // [ 1, 2, 3 ]
console.log(numbers); // [ [ 4, 5, 6 ], [ -5, -4, -3 ] ]

Output

[ 'Python', 'Java', 'C++', 'Lua' ]
JavaScript
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
[ [ 4, 5, 6 ], [ -5, -4, -3 ] ]

Recommended Readings:

• JavaScript Array.push()
• JavaScript Array.pop()