Using the delete keyword in Javascript to remove object keys

DanielMay 19, 2021

Let’s say we have the following javascript object:

const myCat = {
    name: 'Achile',
    age: 2
}

We want to fully remove one of its properties. I’ve found that the easiest way to make this is by using the delete keyword.

delete myCat.age;  
// or delete myCat["age"]
// now the myCat obj is just { name: 'Achile'}

Also, the delete operator will return a boolean which will tell if the deletion was successful:

if (delete myCat.age) {
    alert("The cat had an age attr and it was removed");
}

You can go into more complicated stuff as Todd Motto writes here.

Check out the below codepen for a full example:

See the Pen
Delete Keyword by JS Craft (@js-craft)
on CodePen.