How to delete an item from state array?

The story is, I should be able to put Bob, Sally and Jack into a box. I can also remove either from the box. When removed, no slot is left.

people = ["Bob", "Sally", "Jack"]

I now need to remove, say, "Bob". The new array would be:

["Sally", "Jack"]

Here is my react component:

...

getInitialState: function() {
  return{
    people: [],
  }
},

selectPeople(e){
  this.setState({people: this.state.people.concat([e.target.value])})
},

removePeople(e){
  var array = this.state.people;
  var index = array.indexOf(e.target.value); // Let's say it's Bob.
  delete array[index];
},

...

Here I show you a minimal code as there is more to it (onClick etc). The key part is to delete, remove, destroy "Bob" from the array but removePeople() is not working when called. Any ideas? I was looking at this but I might be doing something wrong since I'm using React.

When using React, you should never mutate the state directly. If an object (or Array, which is an object too) is changed, you should create a new copy.

Others have suggested using Array.prototype.splice(), but that method mutates the Array, so it's better not to use splice() with React.

Easiest to use Array.prototype.filter() to create a new array:

removePeople(e) {
    this.setState({people: this.state.people.filter(function(person) { 
        return person !== e.target.value 
    })});
}

To remove an element from an array, just do:

array.splice(index, 1);

In your case:

removePeople(e) {
  var array = [...this.state.people]; // make a separate copy of the array
  var index = array.indexOf(e.target.value)
  if (index !== -1) {
    array.splice(index, 1);
    this.setState({people: array});
  }
},

Here is a minor variation on Aleksandr Petrov's response using ES6

removePeople(e) {
    let filteredArray = this.state.people.filter(item => item !== e.target.value)
    this.setState({people: filteredArray});
}

Use .splice to remove item from array. Using delete, indexes of the array will not be altered but the value of specific index will be undefined

The splice() method changes the content of an array by removing existing elements and/or adding new elements.

Syntax: array.splice(start, deleteCount[, item1[, item2[, ...]]])

var people = ["Bob", "Sally", "Jack"]
var toRemove = 'Bob';
var index = people.indexOf(toRemove);
if (index > -1) { //Make sure item is present in the array, without if condition, -n indexes will be considered from the end of the array.
  people.splice(index, 1);
}
console.log(people);

Edit:

As pointed out by justin-grant, As a rule of thumb, Never mutate this.state directly, as calling setState() afterward may replace the mutation you made. Treat this.state as if it were immutable.

The alternative is, create copies of the objects in this.state and manipulate the copies, assigning them back using setState(). Array#map, Array#filter etc. could be used.

this.setState({people: this.state.people.filter(item => item !== e.target.value);});

How to delete an item from state array?

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