Undefined in JavaScript
Introduction
In JavaScript, undefined
is a primitive value that represents the absence of a value. It is one of the two falsy values in JavaScript, along with null
. Undefined
is typically used as the initial value for variables that have not yet been assigned a value.
Checking for undefined
There are two ways to check if a value is undefined
in JavaScript:
- The
typeof
operator - The strict equality operator (
===
)
Using the typeof
operator, you can check if a value is undefined
by comparing its type to the "undefined"
string.
“`javascript
if (typeof value === “undefined”) {
// The value is undefined
}
“`
Using the strict equality operator, you can check if a value is undefined
by comparing it to the undefined
value.
“`javascript
if (value === undefined) {
// The value is undefined
}
“`
Assigning undefined
You can assign the undefined
value to a variable using the undefined
keyword.
“`javascript
let value = undefined;
“`
Assigning undefined
to a variable is typically done to indicate that the variable does not have a value.
Comparison with null
Undefined
is often compared to null
, but there is a subtle difference between the two values.
* Undefined
indicates that a variable has not been assigned a value.
* Null
indicates that a variable has been assigned a value of null
.
In most cases, you can use undefined
and null
interchangeably. However, there are some cases where the distinction between the two values is important.
Conclusion
Undefined
is a primitive value in JavaScript that represents the absence of a value. It can be used to indicate that a variable has not been assigned a value, or to represent the absence of a value in a data structure.