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JavaScript

H Yang
H Yang
2,066 Points
Posted by H Yang
H Yang
2,066 Points

Spread operator, array.map, and initializing nested arrays

I want to create an array of arrays with initialized values, opting to use an array constructor. I'd like to get something that looks like

 [[false, false], [false, false], [false, false] ]

Can someone help me understand why my first attempt

  let truthTable = new Array(3);
  truthTable.map(() => {
    return new Array(2).fill(false);
  });

doesn't construct the array I want

but using the spread operator like so gets my desired result

  let truthTable = [... new Array(3)];
  truthTable.map(() => {
    return new Array(2).fill(false);
  });

This below seems to get the result I expect.

let arr2 = new Array(3).fill(new Array(2).fill(false) )

but it's an array of arrays which all point to the same array:

let arr2 = new Array(3).fill(new Array(2).fill(false) )
arr2[0][0] = true;
// arr2 = [ [true, false], [true, false], [true, false] ]

What am I missing about the spread operator, map, constructing nested arrays?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

In your first example, the unfilled array is empty, so the map function doesn't find anything to work with. But instead of the spread operator, you could fill the array with a temporary value as you create it (let truthTable = new Array(3).fill(0);).

But map doesn't change the array directly, you still need to assign the result back to the original array.

Then your other issue is caused by the difference between map (which handles each element individually) and fill which will give each element a reference to the same object.

The most compact way to do what you want might be this:

let truthTable = Array(3).fill(false).map(x => Array(2).fill(x));
H Yang
H Yang
2,066 Points
H Yang
H Yang
2,066 Points

Thank you for the explanation of how these things worked.