instanceof vs typeof
Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Created
24 Jun, 2020
Last updated
23 Apr, 2021
Category
JavaScript
`instanceof`
and `typeof`
are two operators to check the type of a value.#Differences
The
`typeof`
operator checks if a value has type of primitive type which can be one of `boolean`
, `function`
, `object`
, `number`
, `string`
, `undefined`
and `symbol`
(ES6).js
typeof 'helloworld'; // 'string'
typeof new String('helloworld'); // 'object'
The
`instanceof`
operator checks if a value is an instance of a class or constructor function.js
'helloworld' instanceof String; // false
new String('helloworld') instanceof String; // true
#Good to know
-
If you want to check if a value is a primitive string or a
`String`
object, then you need to use both operators:jsconst isString = (value) => typeof value === 'string' || value instanceof String;isString('helloworld'); // trueisString(new String('helloworld')); // trueAnother approach is to rely on the`toString()`
of`Object`
as below:jsconst isString = (value) => Object.prototype.toString.call(value) === '[object String]';isString('hello world'); // trueisString(new String('hello world')); // trueisString(10); // falseWe can use similar methods to check a value against given original or wrapped primitive types:jsconst isBoolean = (value) => Object.prototype.toString.call(value) === '[object Boolean]'; -
Be careful when creating a value of primitive type with constructor. The type of value can be changed based on the way you use it. In the piece of code below, we start with creating a string from the
`String`
constructor:jslet message = new String('hello');message instanceof String; // truetypeof message; // 'object'We are going to append the string object with another string:jsmessage += ' world';Now, let's look at the result of the operators:jsmessage instanceof String; // falsetypeof message; // 'string'These type modifications are known as boxing and unboxing. Boxing is the process that wraps a primitive value by object. Unboxing extracts the wrapped primitive value from object. -
There is a special case when using
`typeof`
with`null`
:jstypeof null; // 'object', not 'null' -
`instanceof`
doesn't work for primitive types.If you want to use`instanceof`
all the time, then you can override the behavior of`instanceof`
by implementing a static method with the key of`Symbol.hasInstance`
.In the following code, we create a class called`PrimitiveNumber`
that checks if a value is a number:jsclass PrimitiveNumber {static [Symbol.hasInstance](value) {return typeof value === 'number';}}12345 instanceof PrimitiveNumber; // true'helloworld' instanceof PrimitiveNumber; // false
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Phước Nguyễn