How do I remove empty elements from an array in JavaScript?
Is there a straightforward way, or do I need to loop through it and remove them manually?
This question is related to
javascript
arrays
You may find it easier to loop over your array and build a new array out of the items you want to keep from the array than by trying to loop and splice as has been suggested, since modifying the length of the array while it is being looped over can introduce problems.
You could do something like this:
function removeFalsyElementsFromArray(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(someArray[index]) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
Actually here is a more generic solution:
function removeElementsFromArray(someArray, filter) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(filter(someArray[index]) == false) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
// then provide one or more filter functions that will
// filter out the elements based on some condition:
function isNullOrUndefined(item) {
return (item == null || typeof(item) == "undefined");
}
// then call the function like this:
var myArray = [1,2,,3,,3,,,,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
var results = removeElementsFromArray(myArray, isNullOrUndefined);
// results == [1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6]
You get the idea - you could then have other types of filter functions. Probably more than you need, but I was feeling generous... ;)
You should use filter to get array without empty elements. Example on ES6
const array = [1, 32, 2, undefined, 3];
const newArray = array.filter(arr => arr);
You may find it easier to loop over your array and build a new array out of the items you want to keep from the array than by trying to loop and splice as has been suggested, since modifying the length of the array while it is being looped over can introduce problems.
You could do something like this:
function removeFalsyElementsFromArray(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(someArray[index]) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
Actually here is a more generic solution:
function removeElementsFromArray(someArray, filter) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(filter(someArray[index]) == false) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
// then provide one or more filter functions that will
// filter out the elements based on some condition:
function isNullOrUndefined(item) {
return (item == null || typeof(item) == "undefined");
}
// then call the function like this:
var myArray = [1,2,,3,,3,,,,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
var results = removeElementsFromArray(myArray, isNullOrUndefined);
// results == [1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6]
You get the idea - you could then have other types of filter functions. Probably more than you need, but I was feeling generous... ;)
Just ES6 and newer versions method, assume array is below:
const arr = [1,2,3,undefined,4,5,6,undefined,7,8,undefined,undefined,0,9];
Simple way:
const clearArray = arr.filter( i => i );
This is another way to do it:
var arr = ["a", "b", undefined, undefined, "e", undefined, "g", undefined, "i", "", "k"]
var cleanArr = arr.join('.').split(/\.+/);
@Alnitak
Actually Array.filter works on all browsers if you add some extra code. See below.
var array = ["","one",0,"",null,0,1,2,4,"two"];
function isempty(x){
if(x!=="")
return true;
}
var res = array.filter(isempty);
document.writeln(res.toJSONString());
// gives: ["one",0,null,0,1,2,4,"two"]
This is the code you need to add for IE, but filter and Functional programmingis worth is imo.
//This prototype is provided by the Mozilla foundation and
//is distributed under the MIT license.
//http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/LICENSES/mit.license
if (!Array.prototype.filter)
{
Array.prototype.filter = function(fun /*, thisp*/)
{
var len = this.length;
if (typeof fun != "function")
throw new TypeError();
var res = new Array();
var thisp = arguments[1];
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
if (i in this)
{
var val = this[i]; // in case fun mutates this
if (fun.call(thisp, val, i, this))
res.push(val);
}
}
return res;
};
}
If an array contains empty Objects, Arrays, and Strings alongside other empty elements, we can remove them with:
const arr = [ [], ['not', 'empty'], {}, { key: 'value' }, 0, 1, null, 2, "", "here", " ", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ]_x000D_
_x000D_
let filtered = JSON.stringify(_x000D_
arr.filter((obj) => {_x000D_
return ![null, undefined, ''].includes(obj)_x000D_
}).filter((el) => {_x000D_
return typeof el != "object" || Object.keys(el).length > 0_x000D_
})_x000D_
)_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(JSON.parse(filtered))With ES6:
const arr = [0, 1, null, 2, "", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ,]_x000D_
_x000D_
let filtered = arr.filter((obj) => { return ![null, undefined].includes(obj) })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(filtered)With plain Javascript ->
var arr = [0, 1, null, 2, "", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ,]_x000D_
_x000D_
var filtered = arr.filter(function (obj) { return ![null, undefined].includes(obj) })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(filtered)What about this(ES6) : To remove Falsy value from an array.
var arr = [0,1,2,"test","false",false,true,null,3,4,undefined,5,"end"];
arr.filter((v) => (!!(v)==true));
//output:
//[1, 2, "test", "false", true, 3, 4, 5, "end"]
What about that:
js> [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,].filter(String).join(',')
1,2,3,3,0,4,4,5,6
How about doing it this way
// Removes all falsy values
arr = arr.filter(function(array_val) { // creates an anonymous filter func
var x = Boolean(array_val); // checks if val is null
return x == true; // returns val to array if not null
});
When using the highest voted answer above, first example, i was getting individual characters for string lengths greater than 1. Below is my solution for that problem.
var stringObject = ["", "some string yay", "", "", "Other string yay"];
stringObject = stringObject.filter(function(n){ return n.length > 0});
Instead of not returning if undefined, we return if length is greater than 0. Hope that helps somebody out there.
Returns
["some string yay", "Other string yay"]
Simple ES6
['a','b','',,,'w','b'].filter(v => v);
This might help you : https://lodash.com/docs/4.17.4#remove
var details = [
{
reference: 'ref-1',
description: 'desc-1',
price: 1
}, {
reference: '',
description: '',
price: ''
}, {
reference: 'ref-2',
description: 'desc-2',
price: 200
}, {
reference: 'ref-3',
description: 'desc-3',
price: 3
}, {
reference: '',
description: '',
price: ''
}
];
scope.removeEmptyDetails(details);
expect(details.length).toEqual(3);
scope.removeEmptyDetails = function(details){
_.remove(details, function(detail){
return (_.isEmpty(detail.reference) && _.isEmpty(detail.description) && _.isEmpty(detail.price));
});
};
Simply one liner:
[1, false, "", undefined, 2].filter(Boolean); // [1, 2]
or using underscorejs.org:
_.filter([1, false, "", undefined, 2], Boolean); // [1, 2]
// or even:
_.compact([1, false, "", undefined, 2]); // [1, 2]
For removing holes, you should use
arr.filter(() => true)
arr.flat(0) // New in ES2019, check compatibility before using this
For removing hole, null, and, undefined:
arr.filter(x => x != null)
For removing hole, and, falsy (null, undefined, 0, -0, 0n, NaN, "", false, document.all) values:
arr.filter(x => x)
arr = [, null, (void 0), 0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, '', 42];
console.log(arr.filter(() => true)); // [null, (void 0), 0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, '', 42]
console.log(arr.filter(x => x != null)); // [0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, "", 42]
console.log(arr.filter(x => x)); // [42]You may find it easier to loop over your array and build a new array out of the items you want to keep from the array than by trying to loop and splice as has been suggested, since modifying the length of the array while it is being looped over can introduce problems.
You could do something like this:
function removeFalsyElementsFromArray(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(someArray[index]) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
Actually here is a more generic solution:
function removeElementsFromArray(someArray, filter) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(filter(someArray[index]) == false) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
// then provide one or more filter functions that will
// filter out the elements based on some condition:
function isNullOrUndefined(item) {
return (item == null || typeof(item) == "undefined");
}
// then call the function like this:
var myArray = [1,2,,3,,3,,,,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
var results = removeElementsFromArray(myArray, isNullOrUndefined);
// results == [1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6]
You get the idea - you could then have other types of filter functions. Probably more than you need, but I was feeling generous... ;)
If an array contains empty Objects, Arrays, and Strings alongside other empty elements, we can remove them with:
const arr = [ [], ['not', 'empty'], {}, { key: 'value' }, 0, 1, null, 2, "", "here", " ", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ]_x000D_
_x000D_
let filtered = JSON.stringify(_x000D_
arr.filter((obj) => {_x000D_
return ![null, undefined, ''].includes(obj)_x000D_
}).filter((el) => {_x000D_
return typeof el != "object" || Object.keys(el).length > 0_x000D_
})_x000D_
)_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(JSON.parse(filtered))With ES6:
const arr = [0, 1, null, 2, "", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ,]_x000D_
_x000D_
let filtered = arr.filter((obj) => { return ![null, undefined].includes(obj) })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(filtered)With plain Javascript ->
var arr = [0, 1, null, 2, "", 3, undefined, 3, , , , , , 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , ,]_x000D_
_x000D_
var filtered = arr.filter(function (obj) { return ![null, undefined].includes(obj) })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(filtered)What about this(ES6) : To remove Falsy value from an array.
var arr = [0,1,2,"test","false",false,true,null,3,4,undefined,5,"end"];
arr.filter((v) => (!!(v)==true));
//output:
//[1, 2, "test", "false", true, 3, 4, 5, "end"]
Try this. Pass it your array and it will return with empty elements removed. *Updated to address the bug pointed out by Jason
function removeEmptyElem(ary) {
for (var i = ary.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if (ary[i] == undefined) {
ary.splice(i, 1);
}
}
return ary;
}
This works, I tested it in AppJet (you can copy-paste the code on its IDE and press "reload" to see it work, don't need to create an account)
/* appjet:version 0.1 */
function Joes_remove(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
var element;
for( element in someArray){
if(someArray[element]!=undefined ) {
newArray.push(someArray[element]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
var myArray2 = [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
print("Original array:", myArray2);
print("Clenased array:", Joes_remove(myArray2) );
/*
Returns: [1,2,3,3,0,4,4,5,6]
*/
var data = [null, 1,2,3];
var r = data.filter(function(i){ return i != null; })
console.log(r)
[1,2,3]
With Underscore/Lodash:
General use case:
_.without(array, emptyVal, otherEmptyVal);
_.without([1, 2, 1, 0, 3, 1, 4], 0, 1);
With empties:
_.without(['foo', 'bar', '', 'baz', '', '', 'foobar'], '');
--> ["foo", "bar", "baz", "foobar"]
If you've got Javascript 1.6 or later you can use Array.filter using a trivial return true callback function, e.g.:
arr = arr.filter(function() { return true; });
since .filter automatically skips missing elements in the original array.
The MDN page linked above also contains a nice error-checking version of filter that can be used in JavaScript interpreters that don't support the official version.
Note that this will not remove null entries nor entries with an explicit undefined value, but the OP specifically requested "missing" entries.
The best way to remove empty elements, is to use Array.prototype.filter(), as already mentioned in other answers.
Unfortunately, Array.prototype.filter() is not supported by IE<9. If you still need to support IE8 or an even older version of IE, you could use the following polyfill to add support for Array.prototype.filter() in these browsers :
if (!Array.prototype.filter) {
Array.prototype.filter = function(fun/*, thisArg*/) {
'use strict';
if (this === void 0 || this === null) {
throw new TypeError();
}
var t = Object(this);
var len = t.length >>> 0;
if (typeof fun !== 'function') {
throw new TypeError();
}
var res = [];
var thisArg = arguments.length >= 2 ? arguments[1] : void 0;
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
if (i in t) {
var val = t[i];
if (fun.call(thisArg, val, i, t)) {
res.push(val);
}
}
}
return res;
};
}
What about that:
js> [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,].filter(String).join(',')
1,2,3,3,0,4,4,5,6
var arr = [1,2,,3,,-3,null,,0,,undefined,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
arr.filter(n => n)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
arr.filter(Number)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
arr.filter(Boolean)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
or - (only for single array items of type "text")
['','1','2',3,,'4',,undefined,,,'5'].join('').split('');
// output: ["1","2","3","4","5"]
or - Classic way: simple iteration
var arr = [1,2,null, undefined,3,,3,,,0,,,[],,{},,5,,6,,,,],
len = arr.length, i;
for(i = 0; i < len; i++ )
arr[i] && arr.push(arr[i]); // copy non-empty values to the end of the array
arr.splice(0 , len); // cut the array and leave only the non-empty values
arr // [1,2,3,3,[],Object{},5,6]
var arr = [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
arr = $.grep(arr,function(n){ return n == 0 || n });
arr // [1, 2, 3, 3, 0, 4, 4, 5, 6]
var arr = [1,2,null, undefined,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,],
temp = [];
for(let i of arr)
i && temp.push(i); // copy each non-empty value to the 'temp' array
arr = temp;
arr // [1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
['foo', '',,,'',,null, ' ', 3, true, [], [1], {}, undefined, ()=>{}].filter(String)
// ["foo", null, " ", 3, true, [1], Object {}, undefined, ()=>{}]
This might help you : https://lodash.com/docs/4.17.4#remove
var details = [
{
reference: 'ref-1',
description: 'desc-1',
price: 1
}, {
reference: '',
description: '',
price: ''
}, {
reference: 'ref-2',
description: 'desc-2',
price: 200
}, {
reference: 'ref-3',
description: 'desc-3',
price: 3
}, {
reference: '',
description: '',
price: ''
}
];
scope.removeEmptyDetails(details);
expect(details.length).toEqual(3);
scope.removeEmptyDetails = function(details){
_.remove(details, function(detail){
return (_.isEmpty(detail.reference) && _.isEmpty(detail.description) && _.isEmpty(detail.price));
});
};
This one will only remove empty values and not falsey ones, which I think is more desirable.
There is an option to also remove null values.
This method should be much faster than using splice.
function cleanArray(a, removeNull) {
var i, l, temp = [];
l = a.length;
if (removeNull) {
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
if (a[i] !== undefined && a[i] !== null) {
temp.push(a[i]);
}
}
} else {
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
if (a[i] !== undefined) {
temp.push(a[i]);
}
}
}
a.length = 0;
l = temp.length;
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
a[i] = temp[i];
}
temp.length = 0;
return a;
}
var myArray = [1, 2, , 3, , 3, , , 0, , null, false, , NaN, '', 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , , ];
cleanArray(myArray);
myArray;
this is my solution for clean empty fields.
Start from fees object: get only avail attribute (with map) filter empty fields (with filter) parse results to integer (with map)
fees.map( ( e ) => e.avail ).filter( v => v!== '').map( i => parseInt( i ) );
foo = [0, 1, 2, "", , false, 3, "four", null]
foo.filter(function(e) {
return e === 0 ? '0' : e
})
returns
[0, 1, 2, 3, "four"]
If you've got Javascript 1.6 or later you can use Array.filter using a trivial return true callback function, e.g.:
arr = arr.filter(function() { return true; });
since .filter automatically skips missing elements in the original array.
The MDN page linked above also contains a nice error-checking version of filter that can be used in JavaScript interpreters that don't support the official version.
Note that this will not remove null entries nor entries with an explicit undefined value, but the OP specifically requested "missing" entries.
I'm simply adding my voice to the above “call ES5's Array..filter() with a global constructor” golf-hack, but I suggest using Object instead of String, Boolean, or Number as suggested above.
Specifically, ES5's filter() already doesn't trigger for undefined elements within the array; so a function that universally returns true, which returns all elements filter() hits, will necessarily only return non-undefined elements:
> [1,,5,6,772,5,24,5,'abc',function(){},1,5,,3].filter(function(){return true})
[1, 5, 6, 772, 5, 24, 5, 'abc', function (){}, 1, 5, 3]
However, writing out ...(function(){return true;}) is longer than writing ...(Object); and the return-value of the Object constructor will be, under any circumstances, some sort of object. Unlike the primitive-boxing-constructors suggested above, no possible object-value is falsey, and thus in a boolean setting, Object is a short-hand for function(){return true}.
> [1,,5,6,772,5,24,5,'abc',function(){},1,5,,3].filter(Object)
[1, 5, 6, 772, 5, 24, 5, 'abc', function (){}, 1, 5, 3]
var data= {
myAction: function(array){
return array.filter(function(el){
return (el !== (undefined || null || ''));
}).join(" ");
}
};
var string = data.myAction(["I", "am","", "working", "", "on","", "nodejs", "" ]);
console.log(string);
Output:
I am working on nodejs
It will remove empty element from array and display other element.
foo = [0, 1, 2, "", , false, 3, "four", null]
foo.filter(function(e) {
return e === 0 ? '0' : e
})
returns
[0, 1, 2, 3, "four"]
This works, I tested it in AppJet (you can copy-paste the code on its IDE and press "reload" to see it work, don't need to create an account)
/* appjet:version 0.1 */
function Joes_remove(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
var element;
for( element in someArray){
if(someArray[element]!=undefined ) {
newArray.push(someArray[element]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
var myArray2 = [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
print("Original array:", myArray2);
print("Clenased array:", Joes_remove(myArray2) );
/*
Returns: [1,2,3,3,0,4,4,5,6]
*/
If you need to remove ALL empty values ("", null, undefined and 0):
arr = arr.filter(function(e){return e});
To remove empty values and Line breaks:
arr = arr.filter(function(e){ return e.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/gm,"")});
Example:
arr = ["hello",0,"",null,undefined,1,100," "]
arr.filter(function(e){return e});
Return:
["hello", 1, 100, " "]
UPDATE (based on Alnitak's comment)
In some situations you may want to keep "0" in the array and remove anything else (null, undefined and ""), this is one way:
arr.filter(function(e){ return e === 0 || e });
Return:
["hello", 0, 1, 100, " "]
When using the highest voted answer above, first example, i was getting individual characters for string lengths greater than 1. Below is my solution for that problem.
var stringObject = ["", "some string yay", "", "", "Other string yay"];
stringObject = stringObject.filter(function(n){ return n.length > 0});
Instead of not returning if undefined, we return if length is greater than 0. Hope that helps somebody out there.
Returns
["some string yay", "Other string yay"]
var a = [{a1: 1, children: [{a1: 2}, undefined, {a1: 3}]}, undefined, {a1: 5}, undefined, {a1: 6}]
function removeNilItemInArray(arr) {
if (!arr || !arr.length) return;
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if (!arr[i]) {
arr.splice(i , 1);
continue;
}
removeNilItemInArray(arr[i].children);
}
}
var b = a;
removeNilItemInArray(a);
// Always keep this memory zone
console.log(b);
All the empty elements can be removed from an array by simply by using
array.filter(String);
It returns all non empty elements of an array in javascript
Since nobody else mentioned it and most people have underscore included in their project you can also use _.without(array, *values);.
_.without(["text", "string", null, null, null, "text"], null)
// => ["text", "string", "text"]
This is another way to do it:
var arr = ["a", "b", undefined, undefined, "e", undefined, "g", undefined, "i", "", "k"]
var cleanArr = arr.join('.').split(/\.+/);
For removing holes, you should use
arr.filter(() => true)
arr.flat(0) // New in ES2019, check compatibility before using this
For removing hole, null, and, undefined:
arr.filter(x => x != null)
For removing hole, and, falsy (null, undefined, 0, -0, 0n, NaN, "", false, document.all) values:
arr.filter(x => x)
arr = [, null, (void 0), 0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, '', 42];
console.log(arr.filter(() => true)); // [null, (void 0), 0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, '', 42]
console.log(arr.filter(x => x != null)); // [0, -0, 0n, NaN, false, "", 42]
console.log(arr.filter(x => x)); // [42]let newArr = arr.filter(e => e);
This works, I tested it in AppJet (you can copy-paste the code on its IDE and press "reload" to see it work, don't need to create an account)
/* appjet:version 0.1 */
function Joes_remove(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
var element;
for( element in someArray){
if(someArray[element]!=undefined ) {
newArray.push(someArray[element]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
var myArray2 = [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
print("Original array:", myArray2);
print("Clenased array:", Joes_remove(myArray2) );
/*
Returns: [1,2,3,3,0,4,4,5,6]
*/
@Alnitak
Actually Array.filter works on all browsers if you add some extra code. See below.
var array = ["","one",0,"",null,0,1,2,4,"two"];
function isempty(x){
if(x!=="")
return true;
}
var res = array.filter(isempty);
document.writeln(res.toJSONString());
// gives: ["one",0,null,0,1,2,4,"two"]
This is the code you need to add for IE, but filter and Functional programmingis worth is imo.
//This prototype is provided by the Mozilla foundation and
//is distributed under the MIT license.
//http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/LICENSES/mit.license
if (!Array.prototype.filter)
{
Array.prototype.filter = function(fun /*, thisp*/)
{
var len = this.length;
if (typeof fun != "function")
throw new TypeError();
var res = new Array();
var thisp = arguments[1];
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
if (i in this)
{
var val = this[i]; // in case fun mutates this
if (fun.call(thisp, val, i, this))
res.push(val);
}
}
return res;
};
}
Simply one liner:
[1, false, "", undefined, 2].filter(Boolean); // [1, 2]
or using underscorejs.org:
_.filter([1, false, "", undefined, 2], Boolean); // [1, 2]
// or even:
_.compact([1, false, "", undefined, 2]); // [1, 2]
If anyone is looking for cleaning the whole Array or Object this might help.
var qwerty = {
test1: null,
test2: 'somestring',
test3: 3,
test4: {},
test5: {
foo: "bar"
},
test6: "",
test7: undefined,
test8: " ",
test9: true,
test10: [],
test11: ["77","88"],
test12: {
foo: "foo",
bar: {
foo: "q",
bar: {
foo:4,
bar:{}
}
},
bob: {}
}
}
var asdfg = [,,"", " ", "yyyy", 78, null, undefined,true, {}, {x:6}, [], [2,3,5]];
function clean_data(obj) {
for (var key in obj) {
// Delete null, undefined, "", " "
if (obj[key] === null || obj[key] === undefined || obj[key] === "" || obj[key] === " ") {
delete obj[key];
}
// Delete empty object
// Note : typeof Array is also object
if (typeof obj[key] === 'object' && Object.keys(obj[key]).length <= 0) {
delete obj[key];
}
// If non empty object call function again
if(typeof obj[key] === 'object'){
clean_data(obj[key]);
}
}
return obj;
}
var objData = clean_data(qwerty);
console.log(objData);
var arrayData = clean_data(asdfg);
console.log(arrayData);
Output:
Removes anything that is null, undefined, "", " ", empty object or empty array
jsfiddle here
Another way to do it is to take advantage of the length property of the array : pack the non-null items on the 'left' of the array, then reduce the length. It is an in-place algorithm -does not allocates memory, too bad for the garbage collector-, and it has very good best/average/worst case behaviour.
This solution, compared to others here, is between 2 to 50 times faster on Chrome, and 5 to 50 times faster on Firefox, as you might see here : http://jsperf.com/remove-null-items-from-array
The code below adds the non-enumerable 'removeNull' method to the Array, which returns 'this' for daisy-chaining :
var removeNull = function() {
var nullCount = 0 ;
var length = this.length ;
for (var i=0, len=this.length; i<len; i++) { if (!this[i]) {nullCount++} }
// no item is null
if (!nullCount) { return this}
// all items are null
if (nullCount == length) { this.length = 0; return this }
// mix of null // non-null
var idest=0, isrc=length-1;
length -= nullCount ;
while (true) {
// find a non null (source) slot on the right
while (!this[isrc]) { isrc--; nullCount--; }
if (!nullCount) { break } // break if found all null
// find one null slot on the left (destination)
while ( this[idest]) { idest++ }
// perform copy
this[idest]=this[isrc];
if (!(--nullCount)) {break}
idest++; isrc --;
}
this.length=length;
return this;
};
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'removeNull',
{ value : removeNull, writable : true, configurable : true } ) ;
'Misusing' the for ... in (object-member) loop. => Only truthy values appear in the body of the loop.
// --- Example ----------
var field = [];
field[0] = 'One';
field[1] = 1;
field[3] = true;
field[5] = 43.68;
field[7] = 'theLastElement';
// --- Example ----------
var originalLength;
// Store the length of the array.
originalLength = field.length;
for (var i in field) {
// Attach the truthy values upon the end of the array.
field.push(field[i]);
}
// Delete the original range within the array so that
// only the new elements are preserved.
field.splice(0, originalLength);
Here is an example using variadic behavior & ES2015 fat arrow expression:
Array.prototype.clean = function() {
var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
return this.filter(item => args.indexOf(item) === -1);
};
// Usage
var arr = ["", undefined, 3, "yes", undefined, undefined, ""];
arr.clean(undefined); // ["", 3, "yes", ""];
arr.clean(undefined, ""); // [3, "yes"];
Filtering out invalid entries with a regular expression
array = array.filter(/\w/);
filter + regexp
var a = [{a1: 1, children: [{a1: 2}, undefined, {a1: 3}]}, undefined, {a1: 5}, undefined, {a1: 6}]
function removeNilItemInArray(arr) {
if (!arr || !arr.length) return;
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if (!arr[i]) {
arr.splice(i , 1);
continue;
}
removeNilItemInArray(arr[i].children);
}
}
var b = a;
removeNilItemInArray(a);
// Always keep this memory zone
console.log(b);
If you've got Javascript 1.6 or later you can use Array.filter using a trivial return true callback function, e.g.:
arr = arr.filter(function() { return true; });
since .filter automatically skips missing elements in the original array.
The MDN page linked above also contains a nice error-checking version of filter that can be used in JavaScript interpreters that don't support the official version.
Note that this will not remove null entries nor entries with an explicit undefined value, but the OP specifically requested "missing" entries.
I needed to do this same task and came upon this thread. I ended up using the array "join" to create a string using a "_" separator, then doing a bit of regex to:-
1. replace "__" or more with just one "_",
2. replace preceding "_" with nothing "" and similarly
3. replace and ending "_" with nothing ""
...then using array "split" to make a cleaned-up array:-
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
var myStr = "";
myStr = myArr.join("_");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"");
myArr = myStr.split("_");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.join(","));
...or in 1 line of code:-
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
myArr = myArr.join("_").replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_").replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"").replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"").split("_");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.join(","));
...or, extending the Array object :-
Array.prototype.clean = function() {
return this.join("_").replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_").replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"").replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"").split("_");
};
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.clean().join(","));
You can use filter with index and in operator
let a = [1,,2,,,3];
let b = a.filter((x,i)=> i in a);
console.log({a,b});Try this. Pass it your array and it will return with empty elements removed. *Updated to address the bug pointed out by Jason
function removeEmptyElem(ary) {
for (var i = ary.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if (ary[i] == undefined) {
ary.splice(i, 1);
}
}
return ary;
}
Nice ... very nice We can also replace all array values like this
Array.prototype.ReplaceAllValues = function(OldValue,newValue)
{
for( var i = 0; i < this.length; i++ )
{
if( this[i] == OldValue )
{
this[i] = newValue;
}
}
};
An in place solution:
function pack(arr) { // remove undefined values
let p = -1
for (let i = 0, len = arr.length; i < len; i++) {
if (arr[i] !== undefined) { if (p >= 0) { arr[p] = arr[i]; p++ } }
else if (p < 0) p = i
}
if (p >= 0) arr.length = p
return arr
}
let a = [1, 2, 3, undefined, undefined, 4, 5, undefined, null]
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
pack(a)
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
use filter to remove empty string in array.
var s = [ '1,201,karthikeyan,K201,HELPER,[email protected],8248606269,7/14/2017,45680,TN-KAR24,8,800,1000,200,300,Karthikeyan,11/24/2017,Karthikeyan,11/24/2017,AVAILABLE\r',_x000D_
'' ]_x000D_
var newArr = s.filter(function(entry) { return entry.trim() != ''; })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(newArr); Another way to do it is to take advantage of the length property of the array : pack the non-null items on the 'left' of the array, then reduce the length. It is an in-place algorithm -does not allocates memory, too bad for the garbage collector-, and it has very good best/average/worst case behaviour.
This solution, compared to others here, is between 2 to 50 times faster on Chrome, and 5 to 50 times faster on Firefox, as you might see here : http://jsperf.com/remove-null-items-from-array
The code below adds the non-enumerable 'removeNull' method to the Array, which returns 'this' for daisy-chaining :
var removeNull = function() {
var nullCount = 0 ;
var length = this.length ;
for (var i=0, len=this.length; i<len; i++) { if (!this[i]) {nullCount++} }
// no item is null
if (!nullCount) { return this}
// all items are null
if (nullCount == length) { this.length = 0; return this }
// mix of null // non-null
var idest=0, isrc=length-1;
length -= nullCount ;
while (true) {
// find a non null (source) slot on the right
while (!this[isrc]) { isrc--; nullCount--; }
if (!nullCount) { break } // break if found all null
// find one null slot on the left (destination)
while ( this[idest]) { idest++ }
// perform copy
this[idest]=this[isrc];
if (!(--nullCount)) {break}
idest++; isrc --;
}
this.length=length;
return this;
};
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'removeNull',
{ value : removeNull, writable : true, configurable : true } ) ;
let newArr = arr.filter(e => e);
If you've got Javascript 1.6 or later you can use Array.filter using a trivial return true callback function, e.g.:
arr = arr.filter(function() { return true; });
since .filter automatically skips missing elements in the original array.
The MDN page linked above also contains a nice error-checking version of filter that can be used in JavaScript interpreters that don't support the official version.
Note that this will not remove null entries nor entries with an explicit undefined value, but the OP specifically requested "missing" entries.
I'm simply adding my voice to the above “call ES5's Array..filter() with a global constructor” golf-hack, but I suggest using Object instead of String, Boolean, or Number as suggested above.
Specifically, ES5's filter() already doesn't trigger for undefined elements within the array; so a function that universally returns true, which returns all elements filter() hits, will necessarily only return non-undefined elements:
> [1,,5,6,772,5,24,5,'abc',function(){},1,5,,3].filter(function(){return true})
[1, 5, 6, 772, 5, 24, 5, 'abc', function (){}, 1, 5, 3]
However, writing out ...(function(){return true;}) is longer than writing ...(Object); and the return-value of the Object constructor will be, under any circumstances, some sort of object. Unlike the primitive-boxing-constructors suggested above, no possible object-value is falsey, and thus in a boolean setting, Object is a short-hand for function(){return true}.
> [1,,5,6,772,5,24,5,'abc',function(){},1,5,,3].filter(Object)
[1, 5, 6, 772, 5, 24, 5, 'abc', function (){}, 1, 5, 3]
With Underscore/Lodash:
General use case:
_.without(array, emptyVal, otherEmptyVal);
_.without([1, 2, 1, 0, 3, 1, 4], 0, 1);
With empties:
_.without(['foo', 'bar', '', 'baz', '', '', 'foobar'], '');
--> ["foo", "bar", "baz", "foobar"]
Nice ... very nice We can also replace all array values like this
Array.prototype.ReplaceAllValues = function(OldValue,newValue)
{
for( var i = 0; i < this.length; i++ )
{
if( this[i] == OldValue )
{
this[i] = newValue;
}
}
};
You may find it easier to loop over your array and build a new array out of the items you want to keep from the array than by trying to loop and splice as has been suggested, since modifying the length of the array while it is being looped over can introduce problems.
You could do something like this:
function removeFalsyElementsFromArray(someArray) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(someArray[index]) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
Actually here is a more generic solution:
function removeElementsFromArray(someArray, filter) {
var newArray = [];
for(var index = 0; index < someArray.length; index++) {
if(filter(someArray[index]) == false) {
newArray.push(someArray[index]);
}
}
return newArray;
}
// then provide one or more filter functions that will
// filter out the elements based on some condition:
function isNullOrUndefined(item) {
return (item == null || typeof(item) == "undefined");
}
// then call the function like this:
var myArray = [1,2,,3,,3,,,,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
var results = removeElementsFromArray(myArray, isNullOrUndefined);
// results == [1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6]
You get the idea - you could then have other types of filter functions. Probably more than you need, but I was feeling generous... ;)
Since nobody else mentioned it and most people have underscore included in their project you can also use _.without(array, *values);.
_.without(["text", "string", null, null, null, "text"], null)
// => ["text", "string", "text"]
use filter to remove empty string in array.
var s = [ '1,201,karthikeyan,K201,HELPER,[email protected],8248606269,7/14/2017,45680,TN-KAR24,8,800,1000,200,300,Karthikeyan,11/24/2017,Karthikeyan,11/24/2017,AVAILABLE\r',_x000D_
'' ]_x000D_
var newArr = s.filter(function(entry) { return entry.trim() != ''; })_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(newArr); Simple ES6
['a','b','',,,'w','b'].filter(v => v);
This one will only remove empty values and not falsey ones, which I think is more desirable.
There is an option to also remove null values.
This method should be much faster than using splice.
function cleanArray(a, removeNull) {
var i, l, temp = [];
l = a.length;
if (removeNull) {
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
if (a[i] !== undefined && a[i] !== null) {
temp.push(a[i]);
}
}
} else {
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
if (a[i] !== undefined) {
temp.push(a[i]);
}
}
}
a.length = 0;
l = temp.length;
for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
a[i] = temp[i];
}
temp.length = 0;
return a;
}
var myArray = [1, 2, , 3, , 3, , , 0, , null, false, , NaN, '', 4, , 4, , 5, , 6, , , , ];
cleanArray(myArray);
myArray;
I needed to do this same task and came upon this thread. I ended up using the array "join" to create a string using a "_" separator, then doing a bit of regex to:-
1. replace "__" or more with just one "_",
2. replace preceding "_" with nothing "" and similarly
3. replace and ending "_" with nothing ""
...then using array "split" to make a cleaned-up array:-
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
var myStr = "";
myStr = myArr.join("_");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"");
myStr = myStr.replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"");
myArr = myStr.split("_");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.join(","));
...or in 1 line of code:-
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
myArr = myArr.join("_").replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_").replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"").replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"").split("_");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.join(","));
...or, extending the Array object :-
Array.prototype.clean = function() {
return this.join("_").replace(new RegExp(/__*/g),"_").replace(new RegExp(/^_/i),"").replace(new RegExp(/_$/i),"").split("_");
};
var myArr = new Array("","","a","b","","c","","","","","","","","","e","");
alert("myArr=" + myArr.clean().join(","));
Here is an example using variadic behavior & ES2015 fat arrow expression:
Array.prototype.clean = function() {
var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
return this.filter(item => args.indexOf(item) === -1);
};
// Usage
var arr = ["", undefined, 3, "yes", undefined, undefined, ""];
arr.clean(undefined); // ["", 3, "yes", ""];
arr.clean(undefined, ""); // [3, "yes"];
The best way to remove empty elements, is to use Array.prototype.filter(), as already mentioned in other answers.
Unfortunately, Array.prototype.filter() is not supported by IE<9. If you still need to support IE8 or an even older version of IE, you could use the following polyfill to add support for Array.prototype.filter() in these browsers :
if (!Array.prototype.filter) {
Array.prototype.filter = function(fun/*, thisArg*/) {
'use strict';
if (this === void 0 || this === null) {
throw new TypeError();
}
var t = Object(this);
var len = t.length >>> 0;
if (typeof fun !== 'function') {
throw new TypeError();
}
var res = [];
var thisArg = arguments.length >= 2 ? arguments[1] : void 0;
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
if (i in t) {
var val = t[i];
if (fun.call(thisArg, val, i, t)) {
res.push(val);
}
}
}
return res;
};
}
If you need to remove ALL empty values ("", null, undefined and 0):
arr = arr.filter(function(e){return e});
To remove empty values and Line breaks:
arr = arr.filter(function(e){ return e.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/gm,"")});
Example:
arr = ["hello",0,"",null,undefined,1,100," "]
arr.filter(function(e){return e});
Return:
["hello", 1, 100, " "]
UPDATE (based on Alnitak's comment)
In some situations you may want to keep "0" in the array and remove anything else (null, undefined and ""), this is one way:
arr.filter(function(e){ return e === 0 || e });
Return:
["hello", 0, 1, 100, " "]
Try this. Pass it your array and it will return with empty elements removed. *Updated to address the bug pointed out by Jason
function removeEmptyElem(ary) {
for (var i = ary.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if (ary[i] == undefined) {
ary.splice(i, 1);
}
}
return ary;
}
All the empty elements can be removed from an array by simply by using
array.filter(String);
It returns all non empty elements of an array in javascript
this is my solution for clean empty fields.
Start from fees object: get only avail attribute (with map) filter empty fields (with filter) parse results to integer (with map)
fees.map( ( e ) => e.avail ).filter( v => v!== '').map( i => parseInt( i ) );
'Misusing' the for ... in (object-member) loop. => Only truthy values appear in the body of the loop.
// --- Example ----------
var field = [];
field[0] = 'One';
field[1] = 1;
field[3] = true;
field[5] = 43.68;
field[7] = 'theLastElement';
// --- Example ----------
var originalLength;
// Store the length of the array.
originalLength = field.length;
for (var i in field) {
// Attach the truthy values upon the end of the array.
field.push(field[i]);
}
// Delete the original range within the array so that
// only the new elements are preserved.
field.splice(0, originalLength);
If using a library is an option I know underscore.js has a function called compact() http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/ it also has several other useful functions related to arrays and collections.
Here is an excerpt from their documentation:
_.compact(array)
Returns a copy of the array with all falsy values removed. In JavaScript, false, null, 0, "", undefined and NaN are all falsy.
_.compact([0, 1, false, 2, '', 3]);
=> [1, 2, 3]
If anyone is looking for cleaning the whole Array or Object this might help.
var qwerty = {
test1: null,
test2: 'somestring',
test3: 3,
test4: {},
test5: {
foo: "bar"
},
test6: "",
test7: undefined,
test8: " ",
test9: true,
test10: [],
test11: ["77","88"],
test12: {
foo: "foo",
bar: {
foo: "q",
bar: {
foo:4,
bar:{}
}
},
bob: {}
}
}
var asdfg = [,,"", " ", "yyyy", 78, null, undefined,true, {}, {x:6}, [], [2,3,5]];
function clean_data(obj) {
for (var key in obj) {
// Delete null, undefined, "", " "
if (obj[key] === null || obj[key] === undefined || obj[key] === "" || obj[key] === " ") {
delete obj[key];
}
// Delete empty object
// Note : typeof Array is also object
if (typeof obj[key] === 'object' && Object.keys(obj[key]).length <= 0) {
delete obj[key];
}
// If non empty object call function again
if(typeof obj[key] === 'object'){
clean_data(obj[key]);
}
}
return obj;
}
var objData = clean_data(qwerty);
console.log(objData);
var arrayData = clean_data(asdfg);
console.log(arrayData);
Output:
Removes anything that is null, undefined, "", " ", empty object or empty array
jsfiddle here
If using a library is an option I know underscore.js has a function called compact() http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/ it also has several other useful functions related to arrays and collections.
Here is an excerpt from their documentation:
_.compact(array)
Returns a copy of the array with all falsy values removed. In JavaScript, false, null, 0, "", undefined and NaN are all falsy.
_.compact([0, 1, false, 2, '', 3]);
=> [1, 2, 3]
You can use filter with index and in operator
let a = [1,,2,,,3];
let b = a.filter((x,i)=> i in a);
console.log({a,b});Filtering out invalid entries with a regular expression
array = array.filter(/\w/);
filter + regexp
You should use filter to get array without empty elements. Example on ES6
const array = [1, 32, 2, undefined, 3];
const newArray = array.filter(arr => arr);
Try this. Pass it your array and it will return with empty elements removed. *Updated to address the bug pointed out by Jason
function removeEmptyElem(ary) {
for (var i = ary.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if (ary[i] == undefined) {
ary.splice(i, 1);
}
}
return ary;
}
var data = [null, 1,2,3];
var r = data.filter(function(i){ return i != null; })
console.log(r)
[1,2,3]
How about doing it this way
// Removes all falsy values
arr = arr.filter(function(array_val) { // creates an anonymous filter func
var x = Boolean(array_val); // checks if val is null
return x == true; // returns val to array if not null
});
The clean way to do it.
var arr = [0,1,2,"Thomas","false",false,true,null,3,4,undefined,5,"end"];
arr = arr.filter(Boolean);
// [1, 2, "Thomas", "false", true, 3, 4, 5, "end"]
Just ES6 and newer versions method, assume array is below:
const arr = [1,2,3,undefined,4,5,6,undefined,7,8,undefined,undefined,0,9];
Simple way:
const clearArray = arr.filter( i => i );
var arr = [1,2,,3,,-3,null,,0,,undefined,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
arr.filter(n => n)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
arr.filter(Number)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
arr.filter(Boolean)
// [1, 2, 3, -3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
or - (only for single array items of type "text")
['','1','2',3,,'4',,undefined,,,'5'].join('').split('');
// output: ["1","2","3","4","5"]
or - Classic way: simple iteration
var arr = [1,2,null, undefined,3,,3,,,0,,,[],,{},,5,,6,,,,],
len = arr.length, i;
for(i = 0; i < len; i++ )
arr[i] && arr.push(arr[i]); // copy non-empty values to the end of the array
arr.splice(0 , len); // cut the array and leave only the non-empty values
arr // [1,2,3,3,[],Object{},5,6]
var arr = [1,2,,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,];
arr = $.grep(arr,function(n){ return n == 0 || n });
arr // [1, 2, 3, 3, 0, 4, 4, 5, 6]
var arr = [1,2,null, undefined,3,,3,,,0,,,4,,4,,5,,6,,,,],
temp = [];
for(let i of arr)
i && temp.push(i); // copy each non-empty value to the 'temp' array
arr = temp;
arr // [1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6]
['foo', '',,,'',,null, ' ', 3, true, [], [1], {}, undefined, ()=>{}].filter(String)
// ["foo", null, " ", 3, true, [1], Object {}, undefined, ()=>{}]
var data= {
myAction: function(array){
return array.filter(function(el){
return (el !== (undefined || null || ''));
}).join(" ");
}
};
var string = data.myAction(["I", "am","", "working", "", "on","", "nodejs", "" ]);
console.log(string);
Output:
I am working on nodejs
It will remove empty element from array and display other element.
An in place solution:
function pack(arr) { // remove undefined values
let p = -1
for (let i = 0, len = arr.length; i < len; i++) {
if (arr[i] !== undefined) { if (p >= 0) { arr[p] = arr[i]; p++ } }
else if (p < 0) p = i
}
if (p >= 0) arr.length = p
return arr
}
let a = [1, 2, 3, undefined, undefined, 4, 5, undefined, null]
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
pack(a)
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
The clean way to do it.
var arr = [0,1,2,"Thomas","false",false,true,null,3,4,undefined,5,"end"];
arr = arr.filter(Boolean);
// [1, 2, "Thomas", "false", true, 3, 4, 5, "end"]
Source: Stackoverflow.com