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# slice (array)

> Reference for the slice (array) workflow task, which extracts a section of an array and returns it as a new array without modifying the original.

The `slice (array)` task extracts a section of an array and returns a new array containing a portion of the original. The source array is not modified.

## Potential use case

Suppose you have a large incoming array whose elements are arrays themselves, and you only need specific values from exact positions. Instead of using `pop (array)` and altering the length of the original array, use `slice (array)` to obtain a smaller subset for immediate processing. This provides faster processing in `for` loops.

## Properties

| Incoming | Type   | Description                                                                                                       |
| -------- | ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `arr`    | Array  | Required. The array to slice.                                                                                     |
| `begin`  | Number | Required. The index at which to start extraction. Arrays are zero-indexed. Defaults to `0` if omitted.            |
| `end`    | Number | Required. The index at which to end extraction. If omitted, the entire array from `begin` to the end is selected. |

| Outgoing      | Type  | Description                                    |
| ------------- | ----- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `slicedArray` | Array | A new array containing the extracted elements. |

## Configure the task

The array variables and the `begin` and `end` indexes are set before running the workflow. In the example below, `begin` is `1` and `end` is `4` — that is, `slice(1,4)` extracts from the second element through the third element (the element at index 4 is not included).

![](<file:docs/assets/images/platform/studio/Sliced (array) image 1.jpg>)![](<file:docs/assets/images/platform/studio/Sliced (array) image 2.jpg>)

A negative index can be used to select from the end of an array. For example, `slice(2,-1)` extracts from the third element through the second-to-last element. The element at the `end` index is not included in the result.

After the workflow executes, the incoming variables — including the `begin` and `end` indexes — are displayed under the **Incoming** tab in Task History, accessible from Jobs in Operations Manager:

![](<file:docs/assets/images/platform/studio/Sliced (array) image 4.jpg>)

The **Outgoing** tab displays the `slicedArray` result. Based on the input parameters, the new array `["b","c","d"]` contains a portion of the original source array:

![](<file:docs/assets/images/platform/studio/Sliced (array) image 3.jpg>)

> Reference for the slice (array) workflow task, which extracts a section of an array and returns it as a new array without modifying the original.