empty

Create an uninitialized array having a specified length.

Usage

var empty = require( '@stdlib/array/empty' );

empty( length[, dtype] )

Creates an uninitialized array having a specified length.

var arr = empty( 2 );
// returns <Float64Array>

The function recognizes the following data types:

• float64: double-precision floating-point numbers (IEEE 754)
• float32: single-precision floating-point numbers (IEEE 754)
• complex128: double-precision complex floating-point numbers
• complex64: single-precision complex floating-point numbers
• int32: 32-bit two's complement signed integers
• uint32: 32-bit unsigned integers
• int16: 16-bit two's complement signed integers
• uint16: 16-bit unsigned integers
• int8: 8-bit two's complement signed integers
• uint8: 8-bit unsigned integers
• uint8c: 8-bit unsigned integers clamped to 0-255
• generic: generic JavaScript values

By default, the output array data type is float64 (i.e., a typed array). To specify an alternative data type, provide a dtype argument.

var arr = empty( 2, 'int32' );
// returns <Int32Array>

Notes

• In browser environments, the function always returns zero-filled arrays.
• If dtype is 'generic', the function always returns a zero-filled array.
• In Node.js versions >=3.0.0, the underlying memory of returned typed arrays is not initialized. Memory contents are unknown and may contain sensitive data.

Examples

var dtypes = require( '@stdlib/array/dtypes' );
var empty = require( '@stdlib/array/empty' );

// Get a list of array data types:
var dt = dtypes();

// Generate empty arrays...
var arr;
var i;
for ( i = 0; i < dt.length; i++ ) {
    arr = empty( 4, dt[ i ] );
    console.log( arr );
}