Get the first and last item in an array using JavaScript

In this article, we will learn to get the first & last element in an array in Javascript, along with understanding their implementation through the examples.

Javascript array is a variable that holds multiple values at a time. The first and last elements are accessed using an index and the first value is accessed using index 0 and the last element can be accessed through length property which has one more value than the highest array index. The array length property in JavaScript is used to set or return the number of elements in an array.

Example 1: This example illustrates to access the first and last number in the array.

Javascript

<script>
  // Array
  let s=[3, 2, 3, 4, 5];
  function Gfg() {

    // Storing the first item in a variable
    let f=s[0];

    // Storing the last item
    let l=s[s.length-1];

   // Printing output to screen
   document.write("First element is "+ f);
   document.write("<br> Last element is "+ l);
  }
  Gfg(); // Calling the function
</script>

Output:

First element is 3 
Last element is 5

Example 2: This example illustrates to access the first and last word in the array.

Javascript

<script>
  // Simple array
  let s= ["Geeks", "for", "geeks", "computer", "science"];
  function Gfg() {

  // First item of the array
   let f=s[0];

  // Last item of the array
   let l=s[s.length-1];

  // Printing the output to screen
   document.write("First element is "+ f);
   document.write("<br> Last element is "+ l);
   }
  Gfg(); // Calling the function
</script>

Output:

First element is Geeks
Last element is science 

Using Array.pop() and Array.shift() method : Array.pop()  method removes the last element of array return it and Array.shit() method removes the first element from array and return it.

Example:

Javascript

<script>
    // Array
    let s=[3, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    function Gfg() {

        // Storing the first item in a variable
        let f = s.shift(0);

        // Storing the last item
        let l = s.pop();


    // Printing output to screen
    console.log("first element is "+ f);
    console.log(" Last element is "+ l);
}

Gfg(); // Calling the function

<script/>

Output:

first element is 3
Last element is 5

Using Array.slice() method: Array.slice() method return the part of array by slice it with provided index and length. 

Example:

Javascript

<script>
    // Array
    let s = [3, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    function Gfg() {

        // Storing the first item in a variable
        let f = s.slice(0, 1);

        // Storing the last item
        let l = s.slice(-1);


    // Printing output to screen
    console.log("first element is "+ f);
    console.log(" Last element is "+ l);
}
Gfg(); // Calling the function

</script>

Output:

first element is 3
Last element is 5

Using Array.filter() method: Array.filter() method return filtered array which remove element which return false for callback function. 

Example:

Javascript

<script>
    // Array
    let s = [3, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    function Gfg() {

        // Storing the first item and second in a variable
        let [f, l] = s.filter((item, i)=> (i == 0) || (i == s.length -1 ));


    // Printing output to screen
    console.log("first element is "+ f);
    console.log(" Last element is "+ l);
}
Gfg(); // Calling the function


</script>

Output:

first element is 3
Last element is 5