Why does this array return a length of 3 when it's clearly 4 elements?

Question

'matt'.split('').sort();

`'matt'.split('').sort().length;` returns 4 for me when I plug it straight into the browser console. — silentsod, Nov 07 '16 at 19:09
It doesn't show the same for me. Chrome 54. Shows expected value of 4 — PitaJ, Nov 07 '16 at 19:09
Possible duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23429203/weird-behavior-with-objects-console-log — Erty Seidohl, Nov 07 '16 at 19:10

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 07 '16 at 19:11

It looks like you've run into the classic "the console doesn't log at runtime, it logs when you inspect the data structure" error. Check out Weird behavior with objects & console.log

Basically, the value of the array is calculated when you click the spindown arrow. The small blue (i) next to the array (you can mouse over it) lets you know that the value displayed is the value at the time of clicking the structure open, not the value at the time you console.logged it.

Google "value below was evaluated just now" for more information.

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 07 '16 at 19:16

1

The following shows a length of 4.

console.log('matt'.split('').sort().length);

edited Nov 07 '16 at 19:16

Soviut

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answered Nov 07 '16 at 19:10

Sajeetharan

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You should put this demo inline using a code snippet. – Soviut Nov 07 '16 at 19:11
@Soviut Done as you mentioned – Sajeetharan Nov 07 '16 at 19:12

Why does this array return a length of 3 when it's clearly 4 elements?

2 Answers2