Can you select several sub items in an array with [ ]?

Question

Say for example I have an array :

[ "car", "fish", "javascript", "Star Wars" ]

And I want to select the first three in this array, but not "Star Wars".

Can I do that by using brackets somehow? Like in Rails I could this by :

array[0..2]

Is there something similar in javascript?

`[ "car", "fish", "javascript", "Star Wars" ].slice(0, 3)` [ref](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/slice) — Yoshi, Mar 21 '12 at 17:06

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 21 '12 at 17:07

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slice() and splice() are your friends:-D

Edit: For your example

var newAr = [ "car", "fish", "javascript", "Star Wars" ].slice(0, 3);

answered Mar 21 '12 at 17:07

Christoph

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Note that `splice` modified the array. – Rob W Mar 21 '12 at 17:08
@RobW true, but you can't assume from the question that this wasn't intended... – Christoph Mar 21 '12 at 17:10
Ah! Cool, super thank Christop. Silly StackOverflow makes me wait 2 minutes before giving you credit :D – Trip Mar 21 '12 at 17:16

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '12 at 17:09

What you are asking for is called a slice. In other languages, such as perl, you can use the bracket notation to select a slice, i.e. [0..2].

However, in JavaScript, this notation is not natively supported. Instead, you need to use the .slice(0,3) method.

It is important to note that the second parameter, the ending index, is the element after the last one you want in the sub-array. Also, slice() does not modify the original array. Instead, it returns a new array object. If you want to modify the original array, use splice().

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '12 at 17:16

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Here goes the example in action:

http://jsfiddle.net/latoyale/2MKKM/1/

answered Mar 21 '12 at 17:16

latoyale

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Can you select several sub items in an array with [ ]?

3 Answers3