The JavaScript exception "reduce of empty array with no initial value" occurs when a reduce function is used.
TypeError: reduce of empty array with no initial value
In JavaScript, there are several reduce functions:
Array.prototype.reduce()
,
Array.prototype.reduceRight()
and
TypedArray.prototype.reduce()
,
TypedArray.prototype.reduceRight()
).
These functions optionally take an
initialValue
(which will be used as the first argument to the first call of the
callback
). However, if no initial value is provided, it will use the first element of the
Array
or
TypedArray
as the initial value. This error is raised when an empty array is provided because no initial value can be returned in that case.
This problem appears frequently when combined with a filter (
Array.prototype.filter()
,
TypedArray.prototype.filter()
) which will remove all elements of the list. Thus leaving none to be used as the initial value.
var ints = [0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5];
ints.filter(x => x > 0) // removes all elements
.reduce((x, y) => x + y) // no more elements to use for the initial value.
Similarly, the same issue can happen if there is a typo in a selector, or an unexpected number of elements in a list:
var names = document.getElementsByClassName("names");
var name_list = Array.prototype.reduce.call(names, (acc, name) => acc + ", " + name);
These problems can be solved in two different ways.
One way is to actually provide an
initialValue
as the neutral element of the operator, such as 0 for the addition, 1 for a multiplication, or an empty string for a concatenation.
var ints = [0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5];
ints.filter(x => x > 0) // removes all elements
.reduce((x, y) => x + y, 0) // the initial value is the neutral element of the addition
Another way would be two to handle the empty case, either before calling
reduce
, or in the callback after adding an unexpected dummy initial value.
var names = document.getElementsByClassName("names");
var name_list1 = "";
if (names1.length >= 1)
name_list1 = Array.prototype.reduce.call(names, (acc, name) => acc + ", " + name);
// name_list1 == "" when names is empty.
var name_list2 = Array.prototype.reduce.call(names, (acc, name) => {
if (acc == "") // initial value
return name;
return acc + ", " + name;
}, "");
// name_list2 == "" when names is empty.
Array.prototype.reduce()
Array.prototype.reduceRight()
TypedArray.prototype.reduce()
TypedArray.prototype.reduceRight()
Array
TypedArray
Array.prototype.filter()
TypedArray.prototype.filter()