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Get the last N number of elements from an array in JavaScript

📅January 10, 2021

Today we’ll show you how to get the last N number of elements from an array in JavaScript. There are multiple ways to get last N number of items from an array using JavaScript.

In the previous article, we explained to you how to get the first N number of elements from an array. You may check the few more articles related to the Array.

Ways to get the last N number of elements from an array

  1. slice() method
  2. splice() method

1. slice() method

In this method, we will use the slice() method to get the last 5 items from an array. It is a very simple and most preferable method to get the last 5 elements from the list.

Example 1: Get the last 5 elements

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

// get the last 5 elements
const n = 5;

const newArr = arr.splice(-n);
console.log(newArr);
// [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Example 2: Get the last 2 elements

const arr = [
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 1,
    title: "delectus aut autem",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 2,
    id: 2,
    title: "quis ut nam facilis et officia qui",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 3,
    title: "fugiat veniam minus",
    completed: false
  }
];

const n = 2;

const newArr = arr.splice(-n);
console.log(newArr);
/*
[
  {
    userId: 2,
    id: 2,
    title: "quis ut nam facilis et officia qui",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 3,
    title: "fugiat veniam minus",
    completed: false
  }
]
*/

2. splice() method

Using the splice() method, we can also get the last N number of elements from the list. But it will update the original array by removing the last N number of elements from the list.

Example 1: Get the last 5 elements and update original list

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

// get the last 5 elements
const n = 5;

const newArr = arr.splice(-n);
console.log(newArr);
// [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
console.log(arr);
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Example 2: Get the last 2 elements and update original list

const arr = [
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 1,
    title: "delectus aut autem",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 2,
    id: 2,
    title: "quis ut nam facilis et officia qui",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 3,
    title: "fugiat veniam minus",
    completed: false
  }
];

const n = 2;

const newArr = arr.splice(-n);
console.log(newArr);
/*
[
  {
    userId: 2,
    id: 2,
    title: "quis ut nam facilis et officia qui",
    completed: false
  },
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 3,
    title: "fugiat veniam minus",
    completed: false
  }
]*/
console.log(arr);
/*
[
  {
    userId: 1,
    id: 1,
    title: "delectus aut autem",
    completed: false
  }
]
*/

That’s it for today.
Thank you for reading. Happy Coding..!! 🙂