Skip to main content
Version: 3.27.2

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 Array.prototype.map() followed by a Array.prototype.flat() of depth 1 (arr.map(...args).flat()), but slightly more efficient than calling those two methods separately.

Syntax​

// Arrow function
flatMap((element) => { /* … */ })
flatMap((element, index) => { /* … */ })
flatMap((element, index, array) => { /* … */ })

// Callback function
flatMap(callbackFn)
flatMap(callbackFn, thisArg)

// Inline callback function
flatMap(function (element) { /* … */ })
flatMap(function (element, index) { /* … */ })
flatMap(function (element, index, array) { /* … */ })
flatMap(function (element, index, array) { /* … */ }, thisArg)

Parameters​

  • callbackFn

    • : A function to execute for each element in the array. It should return an array containing new elements of the new array, or a single non-array value to be added to the new array.

      The function is called with the following arguments:

      • element
        • : 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.

  • thisArg optional

    • : A value to use as this when executing callbackFn.

Return value​

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

Description​

The flatMap() method is an iterative method. See Array.prototype.map() for a detailed description of the callback function. The flatMap() method is identical to map(callbackFn, thisArg) followed by flat(1) — for each element, it produces an array of new elements, and concatenates the resulting arrays together to form a new array.

The flatMap() method is generic. It only expects the this value to have a length property and integer-keyed properties. However, the value returned from callbackFn must be an array if it is to be flattened.