In JavaScript, the delete operator is employed to delete a property of an object. After deleting the actual property, that property won’t be accessible and returns undefined.
The invocation of the delete operator returns true when it removes a property and false otherwise. it’s only effective on an object’s properties. It has no effect on variable or function names.
What Is the JavaScript Delete Operator?
In JavaScript, the delete operator is the only way to remove properties from an object. When you use delete, it’ll return true when it removes a property and false otherwise. The delete operator shouldn’t be used on predefined JavaScript object properties.
The delete operator shouldn’t be used on predefined JavaScript object properties like window, Math and Date objects as it can crash your application.
Let’s scrutinize some facts about the delete operator.
Delete Object Properties
The delete operator is the only way to fully remove the properties of an object in JavaScript.
If the property that you’re trying to delete doesn’t exist, delete won’t have any effect and can return true.
JavaScript Delete Operator Can’t Delete a Variable
The delete operator removes a property from an object. It can’t delete a variable. Any property declared with var can’t be deleted from the global scope or from a function’s scope.
If you declare a variable without var, it can be deleted. Let’s look into the example below.
The variable declared without the var keyword internally stores it as a property of the window object. So, we can delete the properties of the window object.
JavaScript Delete Operator Can Delete Values From an Array
Since JavaScript arrays are objects, elements can be deleted by using delete.
delete will delete the object property, but it will not reindex the array or update its length. This makes it appear as if it’s undefined.
Using delete may leave undefined holes in the array. Use pop(), shift() or splice() instead.
JavaScript Delete Operator Can’t Delete Built-In Objects
Deleting built-in objects like Math, Date, and window objects are unsafe, and they can crash your entire application.
JavaScript Delete Operator Can Delete Some Non-Configurable Properties
Object properties, besides a value, have three special attributes:
writable: Iftrue, the value can be changed, otherwise, it’s read-only.enumerable: Iftrue, it’s listed in loops, otherwise, it’s not listed.configurable: iftrue, the property can be deleted or the attributes can be modified, otherwise, it cannot be changed.
Values assigned by using Object.defineProperty and set to configurable: false in an object can’t be deleted.
In strict mode, it will throw an error if you try to delete a non-configurable property.
Why Understanding the Delete Operator Is Valuable
delete is the only true way to remove an object’s properties without any leftovers, but it works significantly slower if you are using delete in loops.
The alternative solution is setting the value to undefined like object[key] = undefined. It doesn’t fully delete the property, it just sets the value to undefined. This option isn’t a prominent solution, but if you utilize it with care, then you’ll be able to improve the performance.
