Ruby: What is the easiest way to remove the first element from an array?

Solution 1:

Use .drop(1).

This has the benefit of returning a new Array with the first element removed, as opposed to using .shift, which returns the removed element, not the Array with the first element removed.

NOTE: It does not affect/mutate the original Array.

a = [0,1,2,3]

a.drop(1)
# => [1, 2, 3] 

a
# => [0,1,2,3]

And, additionally, you can drop more than the first element:

[0,1,2,3].drop(2)
=> [2, 3]

[0,1,2,3].drop(3)
=> [3] 

Solution 2:

Use the shift method on array

>> x = [4,5,6]
=> [4, 5, 6]                                                            
>> x.shift 
=> 4
>> x                                                                    
=> [5, 6] 

If you want to remove n starting elements you can use x.shift(n)

Solution 3:

"pop"ing the first element of an Array is called "shift" ("unshift" being the operation of adding one element in front of the array).

Solution 4:

[0, 132, 432, 342, 234][1..-1]
=> [132, 432, 342, 234]

So unlike shift or slice this returns the modified array (useful for one liners).