This recursive function should do the trick with any number of dimensions:

var printArray = function(arr) {
    if ( typeof(arr) == "object") {
        for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
            printArray(arr[i]);
        }
    }
    else document.write(arr);
}

printArray(parentArray);
Answer from Sascha Galley on Stack Overflow
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › js › js_array_iteration.asp
JavaScript Array Iteration
Create an Array Iterator object, containing the keys of the array:
Discussions

Loop through an array in JavaScript - Stack Overflow
As long as your JavaScript implementation is compliant with the previous edition of the ECMAScript specification (which rules out, for example, versions of Internet Explorer before 9), then you can use the Array#forEach iterator method instead of a loop. More on stackoverflow.com
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How to loop through an array of arrays and flatten them
Teachable moment. Try this and tell me what you think... const arrays = [ [1,2,[3,4]], ['a','b',['c']] ] arrays.forEach(array => { array = 'weird'; }) console.log(arrays) More on reddit.com
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9
1
September 8, 2022
Basic Data Structures - Iterate Through All an Array's Items Using For Loops
Tell us what’s happening: I m very new to problem-solving and I am stuck on the first one. so the question asks to check if the set of nested arrays got the value passed in an element. Following is my code which isn’t right because I don’t know yet how to access each nested element or ... More on forum.freecodecamp.org
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September 18, 2022
I struggle so much choosing between an Array of an object or an Object with ids as fields and object as the value. What's your rule?
If order matters, choose array. If fast lookup matters, choose object. If both matter, and the order doesn't change, you can use ES6 Maps If both matter and order changes, you can have a composite return value like { orderedKeys: [...], items: {...} } More on reddit.com
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February 2, 2022
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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Statements › for...of
for...of - JavaScript | MDN - MDN Web Docs
The for...of loop iterates and logs values that iterable, as an array (which is iterable), defines to be iterated over.
Top answer
1 of 16
5293

Three main options:

  1. for (var i = 0; i < xs.length; i++) { console.log(xs[i]); }
  2. xs.forEach((x, i) => console.log(x));
  3. for (const x of xs) { console.log(x); }

Detailed examples are below.


1. Sequential for loop:

var myStringArray = ["Hello","World"];
var arrayLength = myStringArray.length;
for (var i = 0; i < arrayLength; i++) {
    console.log(myStringArray[i]);
    //Do something
}

Pros

  • Works on every environment
  • You can use break and continue flow control statements

Cons

  • Too verbose
  • Imperative
  • Easy to have off-by-one errors (sometimes also called a fence post error)

2. Array.prototype.forEach:

The ES5 specification introduced a lot of beneficial array methods. One of them, the Array.prototype.forEach, gave us a concise way to iterate over an array:

const array = ["one", "two", "three"]
array.forEach(function (item, index) {
  console.log(item, index);
});

Being almost ten years as the time of writing that the ES5 specification was released (Dec. 2009), it has been implemented by nearly all modern engines in the desktop, server, and mobile environments, so it's safe to use them.

And with the ES6 arrow function syntax, it's even more succinct:

array.forEach(item => console.log(item));

Arrow functions are also widely implemented unless you plan to support ancient platforms (e.g., Internet Explorer 11); you are also safe to go.

Pros

  • Very short and succinct.
  • Declarative

Cons

  • Cannot use break / continue

Normally, you can replace the need to break out of imperative loops by filtering the array elements before iterating them, for example:

array.filter(item => item.condition < 10)
     .forEach(item => console.log(item))

Keep in mind if you are iterating an array to build another array from it, you should use map. I've seen this anti-pattern so many times.

Anti-pattern:

const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5], doubled = [];

numbers.forEach((n, i) => { doubled[i] = n * 2 });

Proper use case of map:

const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5];
const doubled = numbers.map(n => n * 2);

console.log(doubled);

Also, if you are trying to reduce the array to a value, for example, you want to sum an array of numbers, you should use the reduce method.

Anti-pattern:

const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5];
const sum = 0;
numbers.forEach(num => { sum += num });

Proper use of reduce:

const numbers = [1,2,3,4,5];
const sum = numbers.reduce((total, n) => total + n, 0);

console.log(sum);

3. ES6 for-of statement:

The ES6 standard introduces the concept of iterable objects and defines a new construct for traversing data, the for...of statement.

This statement works for any kind of iterable object and also for generators (any object that has a \[Symbol.iterator\] property).

Array objects are by definition built-in iterables in ES6, so you can use this statement on them:

let colors = ['red', 'green', 'blue'];
for (const color of colors){
    console.log(color);
}

Pros

  • It can iterate over a large variety of objects.
  • Can use normal flow control statements (break / continue).
  • Useful to iterate serially asynchronous values.

Cons

  • If you are targeting older browsers, the transpiled output might surprise you.

Do not use for...in

@zipcodeman suggests the use of the for...in statement, but for iterating arrays for-in should be avoided, that statement is meant to enumerate object properties.

It shouldn't be used for array-like objects because:

  • The order of iteration is not guaranteed; the array indexes may not be visited in numeric order.
  • Inherited properties are also enumerated.

The second point is that it can give you a lot of problems, for example, if you extend the Array.prototype object to include a method there, that property will also be enumerated.

For example:

Array.prototype.foo = "foo!";
var array = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

for (var i in array) {
    console.log(array[i]);
}

The above code will console log "a", "b", "c", and "foo!".

That can be particularly a problem if you use some library that relies heavily on native prototypes augmentation (such as MooTools).

The for-in statement, as I said before, is there to enumerate object properties, for example:

var obj = {
    "a": 1,
    "b": 2,
    "c": 3
};

for (var prop in obj) {
    if (obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
        // or if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj,prop)) for safety...
        console.log("prop: " + prop + " value: " + obj[prop])
    }
}

In the above example, the hasOwnProperty method allows you to enumerate only own properties. That's it, only the properties that the object physically has, no inherited properties.

I would recommend you to read the following article:

  • Enumeration VS Iteration
2 of 16
1210

Yes, assuming your implementation includes the for...of feature introduced in ECMAScript 2015 (the "Harmony" release)... which is a pretty safe assumption these days.

It works like this:

// REQUIRES ECMASCRIPT 2015+
var s, myStringArray = ["Hello", "World"];
for (s of myStringArray) {
  // ... do something with s ...
}

Or better yet, since ECMAScript 2015 also provides block-scoped variables:

// REQUIRES ECMASCRIPT 2015+
const myStringArray = ["Hello", "World"];
for (const s of myStringArray) {
  // ... do something with s ...
}
// s is no longer defined here

(The variable s is different on each iteration, but can still be declared const inside the loop body as long as it isn't modified there.)

A note on sparse arrays: an array in JavaScript may not actually store as many items as reported by its length; that number is simply one greater than the highest index at which a value is stored. If the array holds fewer elements than indicated by its length, its said to be sparse. For example, it's perfectly legitimate to have an array with items only at indexes 3, 12, and 247; the length of such an array is 248, though it is only actually storing 3 values. If you try to access an item at any other index, the array will appear to have the undefined value there, but the array is nonetheless is distinct from one that actually has undefined values stored. You can see this difference in a number of ways, for example in the way the Node REPL displays arrays:

> a              // array with only one item, at index 12
[ <12 empty items>, 1 ]
> a[0]           // appears to have undefined at index 0
undefined
> a[0]=undefined // but if we put an actual undefined there
undefined
> a              // it now looks like this
[ undefined, <11 empty items>, 1 ]

So when you want to "loop through" an array, you have a question to answer: do you want to loop over the full range indicated by its length and process undefineds for any missing elements, or do you only want to process the elements actually present? There are plenty of applications for both approaches; it just depends on what you're using the array for.

If you iterate over an array with for..of, the body of the loop is executed length times, and the loop control variable is set to undefined for any items not actually present in the array. Depending on the details of your "do something with" code, that behavior may be what you want, but if not, you should use a different approach.

Of course, some developers have no choice but to use a different approach anyway, because for whatever reason they're targeting a version of JavaScript that doesn't yet support for...of.

As long as your JavaScript implementation is compliant with the previous edition of the ECMAScript specification (which rules out, for example, versions of Internet Explorer before 9), then you can use the Array#forEach iterator method instead of a loop. In that case, you pass a function to be called on each item in the array:

var myStringArray = [ "Hello", "World" ];
myStringArray.forEach( function(s) { 
     // ... do something with s ...
} );

You can of course use an arrow function if your implementation supports ES6+:

myStringArray.forEach( s => { 
     // ... do something with s ...
} );

Unlike for...of, .forEach only calls the function for elements that are actually present in the array. If passed our hypothetical array with three elements and a length of 248, it will only call the function three times, not 248 times. If this is how you want to handle sparse arrays, .forEach may be the way to go even if your interpreter supports for...of.

The final option, which works in all versions of JavaScript, is an explicit counting loop. You simply count from 0 up to one less than the length and use the counter as an index. The basic loop looks like this:

var i, s, myStringArray = [ "Hello", "World" ], len = myStringArray.length;
for (i=0; i<len; ++i) {
  s = myStringArray[i];
  // ... do something with s ...
}

One advantage of this approach is that you can choose how to handle sparse arrays. The above code will run the body of the loop the full length times, with s set to undefined for any missing elements, just like for..of; if you instead want to handle only the actually-present elements of a sparse array, like .forEach, you can add a simple in test on the index:

var i, s, myStringArray = [ "Hello", "World" ], len = myStringArray.length;
for (i=0; i<len; ++i) {
  if (i in myStringArray) {
    s = myStringArray[i];
    // ... do something with s ...
  }
}

Depending on your implementation's optimizations, assigning the length value to the local variable (as opposed to including the full myStringArray.length expression in the loop condition) can make a significant difference in performance since it skips a property lookup each time through. You may see the length caching done in the loop initialization clause, like this:

var i, len, myStringArray = [ "Hello", "World" ];
for (len = myStringArray.length, i=0; i<len; ++i) {

The explicit counting loop also means you have access to the index of each value, should you want it. The index is also passed as an extra parameter to the function you pass to forEach, so you can access it that way as well:

myStringArray.forEach( (s,i) => {
   // ... do something with s and i ...
});

for...of doesn't give you the index associated with each object, but as long as the object you're iterating over is actually an instance of Array (and not one of the other iterable types for..of works on), you can use the Array#entries method to change it to an array of [index, item] pairs, and then iterate over that:

for (const [i, s] of myStringArray.entries()) {
  // ... do something with s and i ...
}

The for...in syntax mentioned by others is for looping over an object's properties; since an Array in JavaScript is just an object with numeric property names (and an automatically-updated length property), you can theoretically loop over an Array with it. But the problem is that it doesn't restrict itself to the numeric property values (remember that even methods are actually just properties whose value is a closure), nor is it guaranteed to iterate over those in numeric order. Therefore, the for...in syntax should not be used for looping through Arrays.

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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Global_Objects › Array › forEach
Array.prototype.forEach() - JavaScript - MDN Web Docs
The forEach() method is an iterative method. It calls a provided callbackFn function once for each element in an array in ascending-index order. Unlike map(), forEach() always returns undefined and is not chainable. The typical use case is to execute side effects at the end of a chain.
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › loop-through-arrays-javascript
How to Loop Through Arrays in JavaScript
October 31, 2023 - The loop starts at the first element (index 0), which is "apple," and iterates through each subsequent element, printing them one by one until it reaches the end of the array. The forEach method is a built-in JavaScript method for arrays that simplifies the process of looping through each element.
Find elsewhere
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › how-to-loop-through-an-array-in-javascript-js-iterate-tutorial
How to Loop Through an Array in JavaScript – JS Iterate Tutorial
November 7, 2024 - The for...of Loop iterates over iterable objects such as arrays, sets, maps, strings, and so on. It has the same syntax as the for...in loop, but instead of getting the key, it gets the element itself. This is one of the easiest methods for looping through an array and was introduced in later versions of JavaScript ...
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › javascript › iterate-over-array-javascript
JavaScript - Iterate Over an Array - GeeksforGeeks
The for loop in JavaScript is commonly used to iterate through an array. It allows you to process each element one by one using its index. The loop runs from 0 to the length of the array − 1.
Published   January 15, 2026
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › ways-iterating-array-javascript
Ways of iterating over a array in JavaScript - GeeksforGeeks
December 7, 2023 - Example: In this example we are using for loop for iteration of an array. ... A While Loop in JavaScript is a control flow statement that allows the code to be executed repeatedly based on the given boolean condition.
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Love2Dev
love2dev.com › blog › javascript-for-loop-foreach
Looping JavaScript Arrays Using for, forEach & More 👨‍💻
... As the language has matured so have our options to loop over arrays and objects. JavaScript objects are also arrays, which makes for a clean solution to index values by a key or name. JavaScript for loops iterate over each item in an array.
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Flexiple
flexiple.com › javascript › javascript-loop-array
How to Loop Through an Array in JavaScript – JS Iterate Tutorial - Flexiple
Why Loop Through an Array?How to Loop Through an Array in JSCommon Methods to Iterate Through Arrays:Using the for LoopUsing the forEach MethodUsing a for...of LoopUsing a for...in Loop (Not Recommended for Arrays)Using the map MethodUsing the filter MethodUsing the reduce MethodConclusion ... Looping through an array in JavaScript provides a methodical way to access and manipulate each element within the array.
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DEV Community
dev.to › christinecontreras › x-ways-to-iterate-over-arrays-and-when-to-use-each-icm
7 Ways to Iterate Over Arrays and When to Use Each - DEV Community
April 25, 2021 - Instead of having to run the code for each element in a collection manually, you can iterate through the collection with built-in array methods.
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Go Make Things
gomakethings.com › whats-the-best-way-to-loop-over-arrays-and-elements-in-javascript
What's the best way to loop over arrays and elements in JavaScript? | Go Make Things
January 10, 2022 - For today’s article, lets use ... might want to manipulate the data in some way. You can use a for loop to iterate over arrays, NodeLists, and other array-like objects....
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W3docs
w3docs.com › javascript
How to Loop through an Array in JavaScript
You define a variable like i in for (let i in arr), and in each iteration, the variable i will become equal to a key in arr. Then you will be able to select the desired array element with something like arr[i]. See an example below.
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Scaler
scaler.com › home › topics › javascript › javascript array iteration
javascript iterate array - Scaler Topics
January 9, 2023 - The easiest way to iterate array elements without breaking and simultaneously having some side effects is to utilize the forEach() method. Examples of side effects include changes to a variable's outer scope, I/O operations (such as HTTP requests), ...
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Medium
medium.com › @jacquiedesrosiers › mastering-javascript-5-ways-to-loop-through-an-array-6ed1b58f55d4
Mastering JavaScript: 5 Ways to Loop Through an Array | by jacquie d.r. | Medium
May 13, 2023 - This built-in method is forEach, which is an iterative method that takes a callback function as its argument and invokes the callback as many times as there are elements in the array (unless the array is mutated in the callback, which we’ll ...
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Linux Hint
linuxhint.com › loop-iterate-through-an-array-in-javascript
How to Loop/Iterate Through an Array in JavaScript
July 12, 2022 - Linux Hint LLC, [email protected] 1210 Kelly Park Circle, Morgan Hill, CA 95037 Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
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Attacomsian
attacomsian.com › blog › javascript-iterate-array-of-objects
Loop through an array of objects in JavaScript
June 10, 2023 - In JavaScript, you can loop through an array of objects using the forEach() method combined with the for...in loop. Consider the following code example that illustrates how to iterate over an array containing objects and print the properties ...
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freeCodeCamp
forum.freecodecamp.org › javascript
Basic Data Structures - Iterate Through All an Array's Items Using For Loops - JavaScript - The freeCodeCamp Forum
September 18, 2022 - Tell us what’s happening: I m very new to problem-solving and I am stuck on the first one. so the question asks to check if the set of nested arrays got the value passed in an element. Following is my code which isn’t r…