Array.prototype.flatMap()

The flatMap() method returns a new array formed by applying a given callback function to each element of the array, and then flattening the result by one level. It is identical to a map() followed by a flat() of depth 1, but slightly more efficient than calling those two methods separately.

callbackFn

Function that produces an element of the new Array.

The function is called with the following arguments:

currentValue

The current element being processed in the array.

index

The index of the current element being processed in the array.

array

The array flatMap was called upon.

thisArgOptional

Value to use as this when executing callbackFn.

A new array with each element being the result of the callback function and flattened to a depth of 1.

See Array.prototype.map() for a detailed description of the callback function. The flatMap method is identical to a map followed by a call to flat of depth 1.

Pre-allocate and explicitly iterate

var arr = [1, 2, 3, 4];

arr.flatMap(x => [x, x * 2]);
// is equivalent to
var n = arr.length;
var acc = new Array(n * 2);
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++){
  var x = arr[i];
  acc[i * 2] = x;
  acc[i * 2 + 1] = x * 2;
}
// [1, 2, 2, 4, 3, 6, 4, 8]

Note that in this particular case the flatMap approach is slower than the for-loop approach — due to the creation of temporary arrays that must be garbage collected, as well as the return array not needing to be frequently resized. However, flatMap may still be the correct solution in cases where its flexibility and readability are desired.

let arr1 = [1, 2, 3, 4];

arr1.map(x => [x * 2]);
// [[2], [4], [6], [8]]

arr1.flatMap(x => [x * 2]);
// [2, 4, 6, 8]

// only one level is flattened
arr1.flatMap(x => [[x * 2]]);
// [[2], [4], [6], [8]]

While the above could have been achieved by using map itself, here is an example that better showcases the use of flatMap.

Let's generate a list of words from a list of sentences.

let arr1 = ["it's Sunny in", "", "California"];

arr1.map(x => x.split(" "));
// [["it's","Sunny","in"],[""],["California"]]

arr1.flatMap(x => x.split(" "));
// ["it's","Sunny","in", "", "California"]

Notice, the output list length can be different from the input list length.

flatMap can be used as a way to add and remove items (modify the number of items) during a map. In other words, it allows you to map many items to many items (by handling each input item separately), rather than always one-to-one. In this sense, it works like the opposite of filter. Return a 1-element array to keep the item, a multiple-element array to add items, or a 0-element array to remove the item.

// Let's say we want to remove all the negative numbers
// and split the odd numbers into an even number and a 1
let a = [5, 4, -3, 20, 17, -33, -4, 18]
//       |\  \  x   |  | \   x   x   |
//      [4,1, 4,   20, 16, 1,       18]

a.flatMap( (n) =>
  (n < 0) ?      [] :
  (n % 2 == 0) ? [n] :
                 [n-1, 1]
)

// expected output: [4, 1, 4, 20, 16, 1, 18]

• Polyfill of Array.prototype.flatMap in core-js
• Array.prototype.flat()
• Array.prototype.map()
• Array.prototype.reduce()
• Array.prototype.concat()
• A polyfill