Reference of array inside another array (not an item of the other array)

Question

This is probably a dumb question but whatever.

If have two arrays like this:

let a = [0,1,2];
let b = [0,1,2,3,4,5];

Is it possible that I can make changes in one happen in the other array as if they are the same place in memory but different lengths like you could in C? (in javascript)

What i want:

a[0] = 1;
console.log(b);
//[1,1,2,3,4,5];
console.log(a);
//[1,1,2];

javascript does not share same memory for different data. the pointer approach does not works. instead, you could use a proxy and use the property accessor for both arrays. — Nina Scholz
– Nina Scholz, Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 17:04

Bergi · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-28 17:56:54Z

1

Not with plain arrays (unless using getters/setters or proxies to copy the values). However, a shared memory like in C is possible with typed arrays and their subarray method:

const b = Uint8Array.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
const a = b.subarray(0, 3);
console.log(a, b);
a[0] = 1;
console.log(a, b);

The downside (?) is that you can store only integers in the array, not objects or strings.

answered Jun 28, 2022 at 17:56

Bergi

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