snippetjavascriptTip

Get the nth element of a JavaScript array

Submitted by: @import:30-seconds-of-code·Mar 2, 2026·

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javascriptelementnthgetthearray

Problem

Retrieving an element from a JavaScript array is most often done using its index. But what if we want to get the nth element from the end of the array? Or, perhaps, get all elements at an index that is a multiple of n? Let's see how we can do that.
Getting the nth element of a JavaScript array can be easily done, using Array.prototype.slice(). The only thing you need to keep in mind is negative indexes, which you can be used to get the last nth element of the array.
If you need to get every nth element of a JavaScript array, you can use Array.prototype.filter(). Combined with the modulo operator (%), you can use it to keep only the elements that are at every nth position in the array.

Solution

const nthElement = (arr, n = 0) =>
  (n === -1 ? arr.slice(n) : arr.slice(n, n + 1))[0];

nthElement(['a', 'b', 'c'], 1); // 'b'
nthElement(['a', 'b', 'b'], -3); // 'a'
nthElement(['a', 'b', 'b'], 3); // undefined

If you need to get every nth element of a JavaScript array, you can use Array.prototype.filter(). Combined with the modulo operator (%), you can use it to keep only the elements that are at every nth position in the array.

Code Snippets

const nthElement = (arr, n = 0) =>
  (n === -1 ? arr.slice(n) : arr.slice(n, n + 1))[0];

nthElement(['a', 'b', 'c'], 1); // 'b'
nthElement(['a', 'b', 'b'], -3); // 'a'
nthElement(['a', 'b', 'b'], 3); // undefined

const everyNth = (arr, nth) =>
  arr.filter((e, i) => i % nth === nth - 1);

everyNth([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], 2); // [ 2, 4, 6 ]

Context

From 30-seconds-of-code: nth-array-element

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