Getting Started with React List and Keys

Getting Started with React JS Lists and Keys. Useful when handling data from database or a simple end point.

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It is very common to use lists and keys when handling data in React and I wanted to share a little bit of an explanation so you can get started with Lists and Keys.

Given the code below, we use the map() function to take an array of numbers and double their values. We assign the new array returned by map() to the variable doubled and log it:

const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
const doubled = numbers.map((number) => number * 2);
console.log(doubled);

This code logs [2, 4, 6, 8, 10] to the console.

Keys

Keys help React identify which items have changed, are added, or are removed. Keys should be given to the elements inside the array to give the elements a stable identity:

const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
const listItems = numbers.map((number) =>
  <li key={number.toString()}>    {number}
  </li>
);

The best way to pick a key is to use a string that uniquely identifies a list item among its siblings. Most often you would use IDs from your data as keys:

const todoItems = todos.map((todo) =>
  <li key={todo.id}>    {todo.text}
  </li>
);

When you don’t have stable IDs for rendered items, you may use the item index as a key as a last resort:

const todoItems = todos.map((todo, index) =>
  // Only do this if items have no stable IDs  <li key={index}>    {todo.text}
  </li>
);

More Documentation on Keys and Lists: https://reactjs.org/docs/lists-and-keys.html