JavaScript Array Methods for Accessing the Last Element

Table of Contents

• Access Last Element Using Array Length
• Retrieve Last Element Using Slice Method
• Retrieve Last Element Using Pop Method
• Performance Comparison (Chrome)

1. Access Last Element Using Array Length

Retrieve the last element by specifying the index using the array length.

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

// last element by length
console.log(arr[arr.length - 1]);

2. Retrieve Last Element Using Slice Method

Use the slice method to get the last element.

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

// last element by slice
console.log(...arr.slice(-1));

3. Retrieve Last Element Using Pop Method

The pop method removes and returns the last element of an array.

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

// last element by pop
console.log(arr.pop());

4. Performance Comparison (Chrome)

Comparing the performance of the three methods.

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

// last element by length
console.time('lastindex');
console.log(arr[arr.length - 1]);
console.timeEnd('lastindex');

// last element by slice
console.time('slice');
console.log(...arr.slice(-1));
console.timeEnd('slice');

// last element by pop
console.time('pop');
console.log(arr.pop());
console.timeEnd('pop');

Result: The pop() method performs the fastest.

Although using arr.length - 1 is common, the performance difference suggests that using pop() is the better choice.