The array is one of the most widely used objects in almost any programming language. Programmers need to add a large chunk of data that are very similar to each other. For example marks of all the students in the class. Instead of creating too many variables for all the students in the class, it is much more convenient to create an array that can store all the marks in one go.
Get the First and Last Elements of an Array in JavaScript
We can use the concept of indexing in JavaScript to get the first and last elements of Array JavaScript. JavaScript indexes are zero-based. We can simply access the first and the last elements of an Array in JavaScript by specifying 0 and the last index can be accessed through length-1.
Example
function elements(a) {
console.log(`The first element of the array is: ${a[0]}`);
console.log(`The last element of the array is: ${a[a.length - 1]}`);
}
let nm = [23, 34, 233, 3, 5];
elements(nm);
Output
The first element of the array is: 23
The last element of the array is: 5
Explanation
The above code can be explained as follows:
- First, we have created a user-defined function called elements. It takes one argument namely a.
- This will use the conole.log() function to print the first and the last elements of an Array in JavaScript using the indexing technique.
- We have used 0 as the index for the first element as per the rule and length-1 as the index for the last element.
Using pop() and shift() Method
There are some indirect ways to find the first and the last elements of the array too. Array.pop() method removes the last item from the array and return it and Array. shift() method removes the first item from an array and return it.
Example
function elements(a) {
let first = a.shift(0);
let last = a.pop();
console.log(`The last element of the array is: ${first}`);
console.log(`The last element of the array is: ${last}`);
}
let nm = ["john", "william", "fredrik", "collins", "patrik"];
elements(nm);
Output
The last element of the array is: john
The last element of the array is: patrik
Using Array.at() Method
To get first and last element of an array, you can also use Array.at() method. This method takes an integer value and returns the item at that index. If the index is out of range it returns -1.
Example
function elements(a) {
console.log(`The first element of the array is: ${a.at(0)}`);
console.log(`The last element of the array is: ${a.at(-1)}`);
}
let nm = [23, 34, 233, 3, 5];
elements(nm);
Output
The first element of the array is: 23
The last element of the array is: 5
Conclusion
In this article, we have learned about How to Get the First and Last Elements of an Array in JavaScript. Readers are however encouraged to think of many other logics to access the first and the last elements of an array.

Rushabh Rupani is a Software Engineer with over eight years of experience. He has developed a strong foundation in computer science principles and a passion for problem-solving. Rushabh has experience with various programming languages and technologies, including PHP, Python, and expert in JavaScript. He is comfortable working in front-end and back-end development.