Map

The Map object holds key-value pairs and remembers the original insertion order of the keys. Any value (both objects and primitive values) may be used as either a key or a value.

Syntax

new Map([iterable])

Parameters

iterable

An Array or other iterable object whose elements are key-value pairs (arrays with two elements, e.g. [[ 1, 'one' ],[ 2, 'two' ]]). Each key-value pair is added to the new Map.

Description

A Map object iterates its elements in insertion order — a for...of loop returns an array of [key, value] for each iteration.
 

Key equality

Key equality is based on the sameValueZero algorithm: NaN is considered the same as NaN (even though NaN !== NaN) and all other values are considered equal according to the semantics of the === operator. In the current ECMAScript specification -0 and +0 are considered equal, although this was not so in earlier drafts. See "Value equality for -0 and 0" in the Browser compatibility table for details.

Objects and maps compared

Object is similar to Map in that both let you set keys to values, retrieve those values, delete keys, and detect whether something is stored at a key. Because of this (and because there were no built-in alternatives), Objects have been used as Maps historically; however, there are important differences that make using a Map preferable in certain cases:

• The keys of an Object are String and Symbol, whereas they can be any value for a Map, including functions, objects, and any primitive.
• The keys in Map are ordered while keys added to object are not. Thus, when iterating over it, a Map object returns keys in order of insertion. (Note that in the ECMAScript 2015 spec objects do preserve creation order for string and Symbol keys, so traversal of an object with only string keys would yield the keys in order of insertion)
• You can get the size of a Map easily with the size property, while the number of properties in an Object must be determined manually.
• A Map is an iterable and can thus be directly iterated, whereas iterating over an Object requires obtaining its keys in some fashion and iterating over them.
• An Object has a prototype, so there are default keys in the map that could collide with your keys if you're not careful. As of ES5 this can be bypassed by using Object.create(null), but this is seldom done.
• A Map may perform better in scenarios involving frequent addition and removal of key pairs.

Properties

Map.length

The value of the length property is 0.
To count how many elements are in a Map, use Map.prototype.size.

get Map[@@species]

The constructor function that is used to create derived objects.

Map.prototype

Represents the prototype for the Map constructor. Allows the addition of properties to all Map objects.

Map instances

All Map instances inherit from Map.prototype.

Properties

Map.prototype.constructor

Returns the function that created an instance's prototype. This is the Map function by default.

Map.prototype.size

Returns the number of key/value pairs in the Map object.

Methods

Map.prototype.clear()

Removes all key/value pairs from the Map object.

Map.prototype.delete(key)

Returns true if an element in the Map object existed and has been removed, or false if the element does not exist. Map.prototype.has(key) will return false afterwards.

Map.prototype.entries()

Returns a new Iterator object that contains an array of [key, value] for each element in the Map object in insertion order.

Map.prototype.forEach(callbackFn[, thisArg])

Calls callbackFn once for each key-value pair present in the Map object, in insertion order. If a thisArg parameter is provided to forEach, it will be used as the this value for each callback.

Map.prototype.get(key)

Returns the value associated to the key, or undefined if there is none.

Map.prototype.has(key)

Returns a boolean asserting whether a value has been associated to the key in the Map object or not.

Map.prototype.keys()

Returns a new Iterator object that contains the keys for each element in the Map object in insertion order.

Map.prototype.set(key, value)

Sets the value for the key in the Map object. Returns the Map object.

Map.prototype.values()

Returns a new Iterator object that contains the values for each element in the Map object in insertion order.

Map.prototype[@@iterator]()

Returns a new Iterator object that contains an array of [key, value] for each element in the Map object in insertion order.

Examples

Using the Map object

var myMap = new Map();

var keyString = 'a string',
    keyObj = {},
    keyFunc = function() {};

// setting the values
myMap.set(keyString, "value associated with 'a string'");
myMap.set(keyObj, 'value associated with keyObj');
myMap.set(keyFunc, 'value associated with keyFunc');

myMap.size; // 3

// getting the values
myMap.get(keyString);    // "value associated with 'a string'"
myMap.get(keyObj);       // "value associated with keyObj"
myMap.get(keyFunc);      // "value associated with keyFunc"

myMap.get('a string');   // "value associated with 'a string'"
                         // because keyString === 'a string'
myMap.get({});           // undefined, because keyObj !== {}
myMap.get(function() {}); // undefined, because keyFunc !== function () {}

Using NaN as Map keys

NaN can also be used as a key. Even though every NaN is not equal to itself (NaN !== NaN is true), the following example works because NaNs are indistinguishable from each other:

var myMap = new Map();
myMap.set(NaN, 'not a number');

myMap.get(NaN); // "not a number"

var otherNaN = Number('foo');
myMap.get(otherNaN); // "not a number"

Iterating Map with for..of

Maps can be iterated using a for..of loop:

var myMap = new Map();
myMap.set(0, 'zero');
myMap.set(1, 'one');
for (var [key, value] of myMap) {
  console.log(key + ' = ' + value);
}
// 0 = zero
// 1 = one

for (var key of myMap.keys()) {
  console.log(key);
}
// 0
// 1

for (var value of myMap.values()) {
  console.log(value);
}
// zero
// one

for (var [key, value] of myMap.entries()) {
  console.log(key + ' = ' + value);
}
// 0 = zero
// 1 = one

Iterating Map with forEach()

Maps can be iterated using the forEach() method:

myMap.forEach(function(value, key) {
  console.log(key + ' = ' + value);
});
// Will show 2 logs; first with "0 = zero" and second with "1 = one"

Relation with Array objects

var kvArray = [['key1', 'value1'], ['key2', 'value2']];

// Use the regular Map constructor to transform a 2D key-value Array into a map
var myMap = new Map(kvArray);

myMap.get('key1'); // returns "value1"

// Use the Array.from function to transform a map into a 2D key-value Array
console.log(Array.from(myMap)); // Will show you exactly the same Array as kvArray

// A more succinct way to do the same with spread syntax
console.log([...myMap]);

// Or use the keys or values iterators and convert them to an array
console.log(Array.from(myMap.keys())); // Will show ["key1", "key2"]

Cloning and merging Maps

Just like Arrays, Maps can be cloned:

var original = new Map([
  [1, 'one']
]);

var clone = new Map(original);

console.log(clone.get(1)); // one
console.log(original === clone); // false. Useful for shallow comparison

Keep in mind that the data itself is not cloned

Maps can be merged, maintaining key uniqueness:

var first = new Map([
  [1, 'one'],
  [2, 'two'],
  [3, 'three'],
]);

var second = new Map([
  [1, 'uno'],
  [2, 'dos']
]);

// Merge two maps. The last repeated key wins.
// Spread operator essentially converts a Map to an Array
var merged = new Map([...first, ...second]);

console.log(merged.get(1)); // uno
console.log(merged.get(2)); // dos
console.log(merged.get(3)); // three

Maps can be merged with Arrays, too:

var first = new Map([
  [1, 'one'],
  [2, 'two'],
  [3, 'three'],
]);

var second = new Map([
  [1, 'uno'],
  [2, 'dos']
]);

// Merge maps with an array. The last repeated key wins.
var merged = new Map([...first, ...second, [1, 'eins']]);

console.log(merged.get(1)); // eins
console.log(merged.get(2)); // dos
console.log(merged.get(3)); // three

Usage notes

Beware that setting Object properties works for Map objects as well and can cause considerable confusion. Therefore this:

var wrongMap = new Map();
wrongMap['bla'] = 'blaa';
wrongMap['bla2'] = 'blaaa2';

still sort-of-works:

console.log(wrongMap); // Map { bla: 'blaa', bla2: 'blaaa2' }

but does not produce expected results:

wrongMap.has('bla'); // false
wrongMap.delete('bla'); //false
console.log(wrongMap); // Map { bla: 'blaa', bla2: 'blaaa2' }

and there is not much visual difference compared to the correct usage:

var myMap = new Map();
myMap.set('bla','blaa');
myMap.set('bla2','blaa2')
console.log(myMap); // Map { 'bla' => 'blaa', 'bla2' => 'blaa2' }

myMap.has('bla'); //true
myMap.delete('bla'); //true
console.log(myMap); //Map { 'bla2' => 'blaa2' }

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Map and Set bug at Mozilla
• ECMAScript Harmony proposal
• Set
• WeakMap
• WeakSet