Set.prototype.difference()
Limited availability
The difference()
method of Set
instances takes a set and returns a new set containing elements in this set but not in the given set.
Return value
A new Set
object containing elements in this set but not in the other
set.
Description
In mathematical notation, difference is defined as:
And using Venn diagram:

difference()
accepts set-like objects as the other
parameter. It requires this
to be an actual Set
instance, because it directly retrieves the underlying data stored in this
without invoking any user code. Then, its behavior depends on the sizes of this
and other
:
- If there are more elements in
this
than other.size
, then it iterates over other
by calling its keys()
method, and constructs a new set with all elements in this
that are not seen in other
.
- Otherwise, it iterates over the elements in
this
, and constructs a new set with all elements e
in this
that cause other.has(e)
to return a falsy value.
The order of elements in the returned set is the same as in this
.
Using difference()
The following example computes the difference between the set of odd numbers (<10) and the set of perfect squares (<10). The result is the set of odd numbers that are not perfect squares.
const odds = new Set([1, 3, 5, 7, 9]);
const squares = new Set([1, 4, 9]);
console.log(odds.difference(squares));
Specifications
Browser compatibility
|
Desktop |
Mobile |
Server |
|
Chrome |
Edge |
Firefox |
Opera |
Safari |
Chrome Android |
Firefox for Android |
Opera Android |
Safari on IOS |
Samsung Internet |
WebView Android |
Deno |
Node.js |
difference |
No |
No |
preview |
No |
17 |
No |
No |
No |
17 |
No |
No |
No |
No |