Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/Array/flat

The flat() method creates a new array with all sub-array elements concatenated into it recursively up to the specified depth.

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Syntax

var newArray = arr.flat([depth]);

Parameters

depth Optional: The depth level specifying how deep a nested array structure should be flattened. Defaults to 1.

Return value

A new array with the sub-array elements concatenated into it.

Alternatives

reduce and concat

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

// To flat single level array
arr.flat();
// is equivalent to
arr.reduce((acc, val) => acc.concat(val), []);
// [1, 2, 3, 4]

// or with decomposition syntax
const flattened = arr => [].concat(...arr);

reduce + concat + isArray + recursivity

const arr = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6]]];

// to enable deep level flatten use recursion with reduce and concat
function flatDeep(arr, d = 1) {
   return d > 0 ? arr.reduce((acc, val) => acc.concat(Array.isArray(val) ? flatDeep(val, d - 1) : val), [])
                : arr.slice();
};

flatDeep(arr, Infinity);
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Use a stack

// non recursive flatten deep using a stack
// note that depth control is hard/inefficient as we will need to tag EACH value with its own depth
// also possible w/o reversing on shift/unshift, but array OPs on the end tends to be faster
function flatten(input) {
  const stack = [...input];
  const res = [];
  while(stack.length) {
    // pop value from stack
    const next = stack.pop();
    if(Array.isArray(next)) {
      // push back array items, won't modify the original input
      stack.push(...next);
    } else {
      res.push(next);
    }
  }
  // reverse to restore input order
  return res.reverse();
}

const arr = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6]]];
flatten(arr);
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Use Generator function

function* flatten(array, depth) {
    if(depth === undefined) {
      depth = 1;
    }
    for(const item of array) {
        if(Array.isArray(item) && depth > 0) {
          yield* flatten(item, depth - 1);
        } else {
          yield item;
        }
    }
}

const arr = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6]]];
const flattened = [...flatten(arr, Infinity)];
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Examples

Flattening nested arrays

const arr1 = [1, 2, [3, 4]];
arr1.flat(); 
// [1, 2, 3, 4]

const arr2 = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6]]];
arr2.flat();
// [1, 2, 3, 4, [5, 6]]

const arr3 = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6]]];
arr3.flat(2);
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

const arr4 = [1, 2, [3, 4, [5, 6, [7, 8, [9, 10]]]]];
arr4.flat(Infinity);
// [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Flattening and array holes

The flat method removes empty slots in arrays:

const arr5 = [1, 2, , 4, 5];
arr5.flat();
// [1, 2, 4, 5]

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'Array.prototype.flat' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
`flat`	Chrome Full support 69	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 62	IE No support No	Opera Full support 56	Safari Full support 12	WebView Android Full support 69	Chrome Android Full support 69	Firefox Android Full support 62	Opera Android Full support 48	Safari iOS Full support 12	Samsung Internet Android Full support 10.0	nodejs Full support 11.0.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support