The join()
method of Array instances creates and
returns a new string by concatenating all of the elements in this array,
separated by commas or a specified separator string. If the array has
only one item, then that item will be returned without using the separator.
Syntax
join()
join(separator)
Parameters
separator
- : A string to separate each pair of adjacent elements of the array. If omitted, the array elements are separated with a comma (",").
Return value
A string with all array elements joined. If array.length
is 0
, the empty string is returned.
Description
The string conversions of all array elements are joined into one string. If an element is undefined
, null
, it is converted to an empty string instead of the string "null"
or "undefined"
.
The join
method is accessed internally by Array.prototype.toString()
with no arguments. Overriding join
of an array instance will override its toString
behavior as well.
Array.prototype.join
recursively converts each element, including other arrays, to strings. Because the string returned by Array.prototype.toString
(which is the same as calling join()
) does not have delimiters, nested arrays look like they are flattened. You can only control the separator of the first level, while deeper levels always use the default comma.
const matrix = [
[1, 2, 3],
[4, 5, 6],
[7, 8, 9],
];
console.log(matrix.join()); // 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
console.log(matrix.join(";")); // 1,2,3;4,5,6;7,8,9
When an array is cyclic (it contains an element that is itself), browsers avoid infinite recursion by ignoring the cyclic reference.
const arr = [];
arr.push(1, [3, arr, 4], 2);
console.log(arr.join(";")); // 1;3,,4;2
When used on sparse arrays, the join()
method iterates empty slots as if they have the value undefined
.
The join()
method is generic. It only expects the this
value to have a length
property and integer-keyed properties.
Examples
Joining an array four different ways
The following example creates an array, a
, with three elements, then joins
the array four times: using the default separator, then a comma and a space, then a plus
and an empty string.
const a = ["Wind", "Water", "Fire"];
a.join(); // 'Wind,Water,Fire'
a.join(", "); // 'Wind, Water, Fire'
a.join(" + "); // 'Wind + Water + Fire'
a.join(""); // 'WindWaterFire'
Using join() on sparse arrays
join()
treats empty slots the same as undefined
and produces an extra separator:
console.log([1, , 3].join()); // '1,,3'
console.log([1, undefined, 3].join()); // '1,,3'
Calling join() on non-array objects
The join()
method reads the length
property of this
and then accesses each property whose key is a nonnegative integer less than length
.
const arrayLike = {
length: 3,
0: 2,
1: 3,
2: 4,
3: 5, // ignored by join() since length is 3
};
console.log(Array.prototype.join.call(arrayLike));
// 2,3,4
console.log(Array.prototype.join.call(arrayLike, "."));
// 2.3.4