Immutable Splice in Javascript

Splice by default mutates/changes/updates inputted array in Javascript. For example:

const test = ['angel', 'clown', 'mandarin', 'sturgeon'];
test.splice(2, 1, 'first');

console.log(test);
> ['angel', 'clown', 'first', 'sturgeon']

If you see in above example splice mutates original array.

We can create immutable splice function in Javascript.

Here we go:

function splice(arr, start, deleteCount, ...addItem) {
    const result = [];
    if (start > 0) {
        result.push(...arr.slice(0, start));
    }
    result.push(...addItem);
    const len = result.length - addItem.length;
    let count = deleteCount <= 0 ? len : len + deleteCount;
    if (arr[count]) {
        result.push(...arr.slice(count));
    }
    return result;
}

const test = ['angel', 'clown', 'mandarin', 'sturgeon'];

console.log(splice(test, 2, 1, 'drum'));
> ['angel', 'clown', 'drum', 'sturgeon']
console.log(test)
> ['angel', 'clown', 'mandarin', 'sturgeon']

test array in above example isn't mutated.

Welcoming suggestions/concerns. Always happy to update article for any use case.

Thank you! Happy experimenting.

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Comments

[Irving Armenta]

@urstrulyvishwak

Thanks for the snippet, however,
I would change count to a const instead of let since there is no re-assignment.

and let me add here the typescript version

function splice<T>(arr: T[], start: number, deleteCount: number, ...addItem: T[]) {
    const result = [];
    if (start > 0) {
        result.push(...arr.slice(0, start));
    }
    result.push(...addItem);
    const len = result.length - addItem.length;
    const count = deleteCount <= 0 ? len : len + deleteCount;
    if (arr[count]) {
        result.push(...arr.slice(count));
    }
    return result;
}

cheers ~

[Kurapati Mahesh]

Good one