How do I empty an array in JavaScript?

Answer 1

Here the fastest working implementation while keeping the same array ("mutable"):

function clearArray(array) {
  while (array.length) {
    array.pop();
  }
}

FYI it cannot be simplified to while (array.pop()): the tests will fail.

FYI Map and Set define clear(), it would have seem logical to have clear() for Array too.

TypeScript version:

function clearArray(array: T[]) {
  while (array.length) {
    array.pop();
  }
}

The corresponding tests:

describe('clearArray()', () => {
  test('clear regular array', () => {
    const array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    clearArray(array);
    expect(array.length).toEqual(0);
    expect(array[0]).toEqual(undefined);
    expect(array[4]).toEqual(undefined);
  });

  test('clear array that contains undefined and null', () => {
    const array = [1, undefined, 3, null, 5];
    clearArray(array);
    expect(array.length).toEqual(0);
    expect(array[0]).toEqual(undefined);
    expect(array[4]).toEqual(undefined);
  });
});

Here the updated jsPerf: http://jsperf.com/array-destroy/32 http://jsperf.com/array-destroy/152