What Is an Array?

An array is a way to store a collection of multiple items under a single variable name. This section introduces how to create, delete and access array elements.  Think about the following as you read the article:

  • How are array elements accessed?
  • What methods are used to access the elements of an array?
  • How would you convert a string into an array?


Adding items

To add one or more items to the end of an array we can use push(). Note that you need to include one or more items that you want to add to the end of your array. 

const cities = ["Manchester", "Liverpool"];
cities.push("Cardiff");
console.log(cities); // [ "Manchester", "Liverpool", "Cardiff" ]
cities.push("Bradford", "Brighton");
console.log(cities); // [ "Manchester", "Liverpool", "Cardiff", "Bradford", "Brighton" ]

The new length of the array is returned when the method call completes. If you wanted to store the new array length in a variable, you could do something like this:

const cities = ["Manchester", "Liverpool"];
const newLength = cities.push("Bristol");
console.log(cities); // [ "Manchester", "Liverpool", "Bristol" ]
console.log(newLength); // 3

To add an item to the start of the array, use unshift():

const cities = ["Manchester", "Liverpool"];
cities.unshift("Edinburgh");
console.log(cities); // [ "Edinburgh", "Manchester", "Liverpool" ]