A set is a collection of distinct objects. In ES2015, a Set class was introduced.

To create a set, invoke Set with new.

let interests = new Set();

A set can also be created with items:

let skills = new Set([
  'JavaScript',
  'php',
  'Ember',
  'Elixir',
  'JavaScript',
  'Ember',
]); // Set(4) {"JavaScript", "php", "Ember", "Elixir"}

Before I mentioned that a set is a collection of distinct objects. In the example above, there are a few duplicate skills. When you create a set with duplicate objects, the duplicates will be removed.

Working with a Set

The Set class provides methods for adding and removing items:

let skills = new Set(['JavaScript', 'php']); // Set(2) {"JavaScript", "php"}
skills.add('HTML'); // Set(3) {"JavaScript", "php", "HTML"}
skills.delete('JavaScript'); // Set(2) {"php", "HTML"}

You can also check to see if an item is in a set:

let skills = new Set(['JavaScript', 'php']); // Set(2) {"JavaScript", "php"}
skills.has('JavaScript'); // true
skills.has('CSS'); // false

Iterating Over a Set

There are a few ways to iterate over a Set. One way is to use Set.prototype.forEach:

let skills = new Set(['JavaScript', 'php']);

skills.forEach(function (skill) {
  console.log(skill);
});

Another approach is to use the new for ... of loop introduced in ES2015, which allows you to loop over an iterable object like an Array or Set:

for (let skill of skills) {
  console.log(skill);
}

Converting a Set to an Array

Now you may want to convert a Set instance to an array so that you can use methods like filter, reduce, map, etc. Here are two concise ways of doing that:

First, you can use Array.from:

let arrayOfSkills = Array.from(skills);

The second way is to use the spread operator:

let arrayOfSkills = [...skills];

Conclusion

The new ES 2015 Set class allows you to create a collection of distinct items, and can be a good alternative to an array. When removing items from an array, you either have to loop through the entire array to find the one you want to remove, and then remove it via splice, or create a new array without the removed item using filter. The Set class makes this easier with a delete method. If you need to convert a set to an array, you can easily achieve this through the spread operator or Array.from. To learn more Set, check out the Set documentation on MDN.