How to add and remove elements from the beginning of an array in JavaScript?

June 14, 2020 - 2 min read

The unshit array method adds an element to the beginning of an array and the shift method removes the first element from an array.


Adding elements to the beginning of the array

Consider this array of names.

const names = ["John", "Lily", "Helen", "Roy"];

How can we add another name Michael to the beginning of this array?

We can use the unshift array method here to achieve this.

const names = ["John", "Lily", "Helen", "Roy"];

// add elements to the beginning
const newLength = names.unshift("Michael"); // Result: ["Michael", "John", "Lily", "Helen", "Roy"]
  • The unshift method adds an element to the beginning of an array.
  • It accepts the item to be added as the argument
  • It returns the new length of an array

Removing elements from the beginning of an array

Let's consider our old array with Michael added.

const names = ["Michael", "John", "Lily", "Helen", "Roy"];

Now we no longer need Michael and want to remove it.

We could use the shift array method to acheive this.

const names = ["Michael", "John", "Lily", "Helen", "Roy"];
const newArray = names.shift();
  • The shift method removes the first element on an array.
  • It didn't accept any arguments
  • It returns the removed item

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