Array.prototype.map()
The map()
method creates a new array populated with the results of calling a provided function on every element in the calling array.
Syntax
// Arrow function map((element) => { ... }) map((element, index) => { ... }) map((element, index, array) => { ... }) // Callback function map(callbackFn) map(callbackFn, thisArg) // Inline callback function map(function callbackFn(element) { ... }) map(function callbackFn(element, index) { ... }) map(function callbackFn(element, index, array){ ... }) map(function callbackFn(element, index, array) { ... }, thisArg)
Parameters
callbackFn
-
Function that is called for every element of
arr
. Each timecallbackFn
executes, the returned value is added tonewArray
.The
callbackFn
function accepts the following arguments:element
-
The current element being processed in the array.
-
index
Optional -
The index of the current element being processed in the array.
-
array
Optional -
The array
map
was called upon.
-
thisArg
Optional -
Value to use as
this
when executingcallbackFn
.
Return value
A new array with each element being the result of the callback function.
Description
map
calls a provided callbackFn
function once for each element in an array, in order, and constructs a new array from the results. callbackFn
is invoked only for indexes of the array which have assigned values (including undefined
).
It is not called for missing elements of the array; that is:
- indexes that have never been set;
- indexes which have been deleted.
When not to use map()
Since map
builds a new array, using it when you aren't using the returned array is an anti-pattern; use forEach
or for...of
instead.
You shouldn't be using map
if:
- you're not using the array it returns; and/or
- you're not returning a value from the callback.
Parameters in Detail
callbackFn
is invoked with three arguments: the value of the element, the index of the element, and the array object being mapped.
If a thisArg
parameter is provided, it will be used as callback's this
value. Otherwise, the value undefined
will be used as its this
value. The this
value ultimately observable by callbackFn
is determined according to the usual rules for determining the this
seen by a function.
map
does not mutate the array on which it is called (although callbackFn
, if invoked, may do so).
The range of elements processed by map
is set before the first invocation of callbackFn
. Elements which are assigned to indexes already visited, or to indexes outside the range, will not be visited by callbackFn
. If existing elements of the array are changed after the call to map
, their value will be the value at the time callbackFn
visits them. Elements that are deleted after the call to map
begins and before being visited are not visited.
Warning: Concurrent modification of the kind described in the previous paragraph frequently leads to hard-to-understand code and is generally to be avoided (except in special cases).
Due to the algorithm defined in the specification, if the array which map
was called upon is sparse, resulting array will also be sparse keeping same indices blank.
Polyfill
map
was added to the ECMA-262 standard in the 5th edition. Therefore, it may not be present in all implementations of the standard.
You can work around this by inserting the following code at the beginning of your scripts, allowing use of map
in implementations which do not natively support it. This algorithm is exactly the one specified in ECMA-262, 5th edition, assuming Object
, TypeError
, and Array
have their original values and that callback.call
evaluates to the original value of
. Function.prototype.call
// Production steps of ECMA-262, Edition 5, 15.4.4.19 // Reference: https://es5.github.io/#x15.4.4.19 if (!Array.prototype.map) { Array.prototype.map = function(callback/*, thisArg*/) { var T, A, k; if (this == null) { throw new TypeError('this is null or not defined'); } // 1. Let O be the result of calling ToObject passing the |this| // value as the argument. var O = Object(this); // 2. Let lenValue be the result of calling the Get internal // method of O with the argument "length". // 3. Let len be ToUint32(lenValue). var len = O.length >>> 0; // 4. If IsCallable(callback) is false, throw a TypeError exception. // See: https://es5.github.com/#x9.11 if (typeof callback !== 'function') { throw new TypeError(callback + ' is not a function'); } // 5. If thisArg was supplied, let T be thisArg; else let T be undefined. if (arguments.length > 1) { T = arguments[1]; } // 6. Let A be a new array created as if by the expression new Array(len) // where Array is the standard built-in constructor with that name and // len is the value of len. A = new Array(len); // 7. Let k be 0 k = 0; // 8. Repeat, while k < len while (k < len) { var kValue, mappedValue; // a. Let Pk be ToString(k). // This is implicit for LHS operands of the in operator // b. Let kPresent be the result of calling the HasProperty internal // method of O with argument Pk. // This step can be combined with c // c. If kPresent is true, then if (k in O) { // i. Let kValue be the result of calling the Get internal // method of O with argument Pk. kValue = O[k]; // ii. Let mappedValue be the result of calling the Call internal // method of callback with T as the this value and argument // list containing kValue, k, and O. mappedValue = callback.call(T, kValue, k, O); // iii. Call the DefineOwnProperty internal method of A with arguments // Pk, Property Descriptor // { Value: mappedValue, // Writable: true, // Enumerable: true, // Configurable: true }, // and false. // In browsers that support Object.defineProperty, use the following: // Object.defineProperty(A, k, { // value: mappedValue, // writable: true, // enumerable: true, // configurable: true // }); // For best browser support, use the following: A[k] = mappedValue; } // d. Increase k by 1. k++; } // 9. return A return A; }; }
Examples
Mapping an array of numbers to an array of square roots
The following code takes an array of numbers and creates a new array containing the square roots of the numbers in the first array.
let numbers = [1, 4, 9] let roots = numbers.map(function(num) { return Math.sqrt(num) }) // roots is now [1, 2, 3] // numbers is still [1, 4, 9]
Using map to reformat objects in an array
The following code takes an array of objects and creates a new array containing the newly reformatted objects.
let kvArray = [{key: 1, value: 10}, {key: 2, value: 20}, {key: 3, value: 30}] let reformattedArray = kvArray.map(obj => { let rObj = {} rObj[obj.key] = obj.value return rObj }) // reformattedArray is now [{1: 10}, {2: 20}, {3: 30}], // kvArray is still: // [{key: 1, value: 10}, // {key: 2, value: 20}, // {key: 3, value: 30}]
Mapping an array of numbers using a function containing an argument
The following code shows how map
works when a function requiring one argument is used with it. The argument will automatically be assigned from each element of the array as map
loops through the original array.
let numbers = [1, 4, 9] let doubles = numbers.map(function(num) { return num * 2 }) // doubles is now [2, 8, 18] // numbers is still [1, 4, 9]
Using map generically
This example shows how to use map on a String
to get an array of bytes in the ASCII encoding representing the character values:
let map = Array.prototype.map let a = map.call('Hello World', function(x) { return x.charCodeAt(0) }) // a now equals [72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 87, 111, 114, 108, 100]
Using map generically querySelectorAll
This example shows how to iterate through a collection of objects collected by querySelectorAll
. This is because querySelectorAll
returns a NodeList
(which is a collection of objects).
In this case, we return all the selected option
s' values on the screen:
let elems = document.querySelectorAll('select option:checked') let values = Array.prototype.map.call(elems, function(obj) { return obj.value })
An easier way would be the Array.from()
method.
Tricky use case
It is common to use the callback with one argument (the element being traversed). Certain functions are also commonly used with one argument, even though they take additional optional arguments. These habits may lead to confusing behaviors.
Consider:
["1", "2", "3"].map(parseInt)
While one might expect [1, 2, 3]
, the actual result is [1, NaN, NaN]
.
parseInt
is often used with one argument, but takes two. The first is an expression and the second is the radix to the callback function, Array.prototype.map
passes 3 arguments:
- the element
- the index
- the array
The third argument is ignored by parseInt
—but not the second one! This is the source of possible confusion.
Here is a concise example of the iteration steps:
// parseInt(string, radix) -> map(parseInt(value, index)) /* first iteration (index is 0): */ parseInt("1", 0) // 1 /* second iteration (index is 1): */ parseInt("2", 1) // NaN /* third iteration (index is 2): */ parseInt("3", 2) // NaN
Then let's talk about solutions.
function returnInt(element) { return parseInt(element, 10) } ['1', '2', '3'].map(returnInt); // [1, 2, 3] // Actual result is an array of numbers (as expected) // Same as above, but using the concise arrow function syntax ['1', '2', '3'].map( str => parseInt(str) ) // A simpler way to achieve the above, while avoiding the "gotcha": ['1', '2', '3'].map(Number) // [1, 2, 3] // But unlike parseInt(), Number() will also return a float or (resolved) exponential notation: ['1.1', '2.2e2', '3e300'].map(Number) // [1.1, 220, 3e+300] // For comparison, if we use parseInt() on the array above: ['1.1', '2.2e2', '3e300'].map( str => parseInt(str) ) // [1, 2, 3]
One alternative output of the map method being called with parseInt
as a parameter runs as follows:
let xs = ['10', '10', '10'] xs = xs.map(parseInt) console.log(xs) // Actual result of 10,NaN,2 may be unexpected based on the above description.
Mapped array contains undefined
When undefined
or nothing is returned:
let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4] let filteredNumbers = numbers.map(function(num, index) { if (index < 3) { return num } }) // index goes from 0, so the filterNumbers are 1,2,3 and undefined. // filteredNumbers is [1, 2, 3, undefined] // numbers is still [1, 2, 3, 4]
Specifications
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari | WebView Android | Chrome Android | Firefox for Android | Opera Android | Safari on IOS | Samsung Internet | |
map |
1 |
12 |
1.5 |
9 |
9.5 |
3 |
≤37 |
18 |
4 |
10.1 |
1 |
1.0 |
See also
- A polyfill of
Array.prototype.map
is available incore-js
Array.prototype.forEach()
-
Map
object Array.from()
© 2005–2021 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/map