Shallow Copy vs Deep Copy in JavaScript

Vimal Tripathi — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 09:43:13 +0000

When working with objects and arrays in JavaScript, developers often run into unexpected behavior because of how copies work. A major confusion is between shallow copy and deep copy.

🟠 What is a Shallow Copy?
Imagine you copy a room — it looks exactly the same: same walls, same furniture, same cupboard.
But here’s the catch — the cupboard inside is shared.
If you change something inside the cupboard in one room, it also changes in the other!

That’s what a shallow copy does.

const original = {
name: "Vimal",
skills: {
frontend: "React",
backend: "Node"
}
};

const shallow = { ...original };
shallow.skills.frontend = "Vue";

console.log(original.skills.frontend); // Output: "Vue" ❌

🟢 What is a Deep Copy?
Now imagine you not only copy the room but also build a completely new cupboard with its own items.
Now, if you change something inside this cupboard, it won’t affect the original.

That’s a deep copy in JavaScript.

const deep = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(original));
deep.skills.frontend = "Angular";
console.log(original.skills.frontend); // Output: "React" ✅

Here, deep is fully independent — changes inside don’t affect the original.

What is React?

Vimal Tripathi — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 15:23:52 +0000

React is an open-source front-end JavaScript library that helps in building reusable components and provides the view layer for web and mobile applications.

DEV Community: Vimal Tripathi

Shallow Copy vs Deep Copy in JavaScript

What is React?