Array.prototype.copyWithin()

Summary

The copyWithin() method copies the sequence of array elements within the array to the position starting at target. The copy is taken from the index positions of the second and third arguments start and end. The end argument is optional and defaults to the length of the array.

Syntax

arr.copyWithin(target, start[, end = this.length])

Parameters

target

Target start index position where to copy the elements to.

start

Source start index position where to start copying elements from.

end

Optional. Source end index position where to end copying elements from.

Description

The arguments target, start, and end are coerced to Number and truncated to integer values.

If start is negative, it is treated as length+start where length is the length of the array. If end is negative, it is treated as length+end.

The copyWithin function is intentionally generic, it does not require that its this value be an Array object and in addition, copyWithin is a mutable method, it will change this object itself, and return it, not just return a copy of it.

Examples

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, 3);
// [4, 5, 3, 4, 5]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, 3, 4);
// [4, 2, 3, 4, 5]

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, -2, -1);
// [4, 2, 3, 4, 5]

[].copyWithin.call({length: 5, 3: 1}, 0, 3);
// {0: 1, 3: 1, length: 5}

// ES6 Typed Arrays are subclasses of Array
var i32a = new Int32Array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);

i32a.copyWithin(0, 2);
// Int32Array [3, 4, 5, 4, 5]

// On platforms that are not yet ES6 compliant: 
[].copyWithin.call(new Int32Array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]), 0, 3, 4);
// Int32Array [4, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Polyfill

if (!Array.prototype.copyWithin) {
  Array.prototype.copyWithin = function(target, start/*, end*/) {
    // Steps 1-2.
    if (this == null) {
      throw new TypeError('this is null or not defined');
    }

    var O = Object(this);

    // Steps 3-5.
    var len = O.length >>> 0;

    // Steps 6-8.
    var relativeTarget = target >> 0;

    var to = relativeTarget < 0 ?
      Math.max(len + relativeTarget, 0) :
      Math.min(relativeTarget, len);

    // Steps 9-11.
    var relativeStart = start >> 0;

    var from = relativeStart < 0 ?
      Math.max(len + relativeStart, 0) :
      Math.min(relativeStart, len);

    // Steps 12-14.
    var end = arguments[2];
    var relativeEnd = end === undefined ? len : end >> 0;

    var final = relativeEnd < 0 ?
      Math.max(len + relativeEnd, 0) :
      Math.min(relativeEnd, len);

    // Step 15.
    var count = Math.min(final - from, len - to);

    // Steps 16-17.
    var direction = 1;

    if (from < to && to < (from + count)) {
      direction = -1;
      from += count - 1;
      to += count - 1;
    }

    // Step 18.
    while (count > 0) {
      if (from in O) {
        O[to] = O[from];
      } else {
        delete O[to];
      }

      from += direction;
      to += direction;
      count--;
    }

    // Step 19.
    return O;
  };
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Array