Difference Between Lodash pull and pullAll

Lodash provides several utility methods to manipulate arrays, with _.pull and _.pullAll being two of the most commonly used for removing unwanted elements. Both functions mutate the original array by stripping out specified values using strict equality checks (SameValueZero). The primary difference between the two lies entirely in how they accept the values to be removed: _.pull accepts values as individual, comma-separated arguments, while _.pullAll accepts values grouped within a single array.

Understanding Lodash _.pull

The _.pull method removes all provided values from an array. It uses variadic arguments (rest parameters), meaning each element you want to filter out must be passed as an individual argument.

Syntax

_.pull(array, [values])

Example

const _ = require('lodash');

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3];

// Values passed as individual arguments
_.pull(numbers, 2, 3);

console.log(numbers); 
// Output: [1, 1]

Notice that numbers is modified in place. Passing an array of values directly into _.pull without spreading will not work unless you are trying to remove a nested array that matches by reference.

Understanding Lodash _.pullAll

The _.pullAll method functions similarly to _.pull, but instead of taking multiple individual arguments, it accepts a single array containing all the values you wish to remove.

Syntax

_.pullAll(array, values)

Example

const _ = require('lodash');

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3];

// Values passed as a single array
_.pullAll(numbers, [2, 3]);

console.log(numbers); 
// Output: [1, 1]

Key Differences

When to Use Which

• Use _.pull when you know the exact, static values you want to exclude at design time and want a concise syntax (e.g., _.pull(items, 'active', 'pending')).
• Use _.pullAll when the values to be removed are already stored in an array or generated dynamically at runtime (e.g., _.pullAll(items, blacklistedIds)).

While you can achieve the same behavior using ES6 spread syntax with _.pull (such as _.pull(items, ...blacklist)), _.pullAll provides cleaner code and avoids argument-length limits when handling large sets of data.