How to extend an existing JavaScript array with another array, without creating a new array

Question

There doesn\'t seem to be a way to extend an existing JavaScript array with another array, i.e. to emulate Python\'s extend method.

I want to achieve th

Answer 1

If you want to use jQuery, there is $.merge()

Example:

a = [1, 2];
b = [3, 4, 5];
$.merge(a,b);

Result: a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Answer 2

It is possible to do it using splice():

b.unshift(b.length)
b.unshift(a.length)
Array.prototype.splice.apply(a,b) 
b.shift() // Restore b
b.shift() // 

But despite being uglier it is not faster than push.apply, at least not in Firefox 3.0.

Answer 3

I like the a.push.apply(a, b) method described above, and if you want you can always create a library function like this:

Array.prototype.append = function(array)
{
    this.push.apply(this, array)
}

and use it like this

a = [1,2]
b = [3,4]

a.append(b)

Answer 4

The .push method can take multiple arguments. You can use the spread operator to pass all the elements of the second array as arguments to .push:

>>> a.push(...b)

If your browser does not support ECMAScript 6, you can use .apply instead:

>>> a.push.apply(a, b)

Or perhaps, if you think it's clearer:

>>> Array.prototype.push.apply(a,b)

Please note that all these solutions will fail with a stack overflow error if array b is too long (trouble starts at about 100,000 elements, depending on the browser).
If you cannot guarantee that b is short enough, you should use a standard loop-based technique described in the other answer.

Answer 5

Use Array.extend instead of Array.push for > 150,000 records.

if (!Array.prototype.extend) {
  Array.prototype.extend = function(arr) {
    if (!Array.isArray(arr)) {
      return this;
    }

    for (let record of arr) {
      this.push(record);
    }

    return this;
  };
}

Answer 6

Combining the answers...

Array.prototype.extend = function(array) {
    if (array.length < 150000) {
        this.push.apply(this, array)
    } else {
        for (var i = 0, len = array.length; i < len; ++i) {
            this.push(array[i]);
        };
    }  
}