How to Check a Not-Defined Variable in JavaScript

How to check a not-defined variable in JavaScript

In JavaScript, null is an object. There's another value for things that don't exist, undefined. The DOM returns null for almost all cases where it fails to find some structure in the document, but in JavaScript itself undefined is the value used.

Second, no, there is not a direct equivalent. If you really want to check for specifically for null, do:

if (yourvar === null) // Does not execute if yourvar is `undefined`

If you want to check if a variable exists, that can only be done with try/catch, since typeof will treat an undeclared variable and a variable declared with the value of undefined as equivalent.

But, to check if a variable is declared and is not undefined:

if (yourvar !== undefined) // Any scope

Previously, it was necessary to use the typeof operator to check for undefined safely, because it was possible to reassign undefined just like a variable. The old way looked like this:

if (typeof yourvar !== 'undefined') // Any scope

The issue of undefined being re-assignable was fixed in ECMAScript 5, which was released in 2009. You can now safely use === and !== to test for undefined without using typeof as undefined has been read-only for some time.

If you want to know if a member exists independent but don't care what its value is:

if ('membername' in object) // With inheritance
if (object.hasOwnProperty('membername')) // Without inheritance

If you want to to know whether a variable is truthy:

if (yourvar)

Source

JavaScript check if variable exists (is defined/initialized)

The typeof operator will check if the variable is really undefined.

if (typeof variable === 'undefined') {
    // variable is undefined
}

The typeof operator, unlike the other operators, doesn't throw a ReferenceError exception when used with an undeclared variable.

However, do note that typeof null will return "object". We have to be careful to avoid the mistake of initializing a variable to null. To be safe, this is what we could use instead:

if (typeof variable === 'undefined' || variable === null) {
    // variable is undefined or null
}

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For more info on using strict comparison === instead of simple equality ==, see:
Which equals operator (== vs ===) should be used in JavaScript comparisons?

How can I check for undefined in JavaScript?

If you are interested in finding out whether a variable has been declared regardless of its value, then using the in operator is the safest way to go. Consider this example:

// global scope
var theFu; // theFu has been declared, but its value is undefined
typeof theFu; // "undefined"

But this may not be the intended result for some cases, since the variable or property was declared but just not initialized. Use the in operator for a more robust check.

"theFu" in window; // true
"theFoo" in window; // false

If you are interested in knowing whether the variable hasn't been declared or has the value undefined, then use the typeof operator, which is guaranteed to return a string:

if (typeof myVar !== 'undefined')

Direct comparisons against undefined are troublesome as undefined can be overwritten.

window.undefined = "foo";
"foo" == undefined // true

As @CMS pointed out, this has been patched in ECMAScript 5th ed., and undefined is non-writable.

if (window.myVar) will also include these falsy values, so it's not very robust:

false
0
""
NaN
null
undefined

Thanks to @CMS for pointing out that your third case - if (myVariable) can also throw an error in two cases. The first is when the variable hasn't been defined which throws a ReferenceError.

// abc was never declared.
if (abc) {
    // ReferenceError: abc is not defined
} 

The other case is when the variable has been defined, but has a getter function which throws an error when invoked. For example,

// or it's a property that can throw an error
Object.defineProperty(window, "myVariable", { 
    get: function() { throw new Error("W00t?"); }, 
    set: undefined 
});
if (myVariable) {
    // Error: W00t?
}

How can I determine if a variable is 'undefined' or 'null'?

You can use the qualities of the abstract equality operator to do this:

if (variable == null){
    // your code here.
}

Because null == undefined is true, the above code will catch both null and undefined.

How to check for an undefined or null variable in JavaScript?

You have to differentiate between cases:

1. Variables can be undefined or undeclared. You'll get an error if you access an undeclared variable in any context other than typeof.

if(typeof someUndeclaredVar == whatever) // works
if(someUndeclaredVar) // throws error

A variable that has been declared but not initialized is undefined.

let foo;
if (foo) //evaluates to false because foo === undefined

2. Undefined properties , like someExistingObj.someUndefProperty. An undefined property doesn't yield an error and simply returns undefined, which, when converted to a boolean, evaluates to false. So, if you don't care about
   0 and false, using if(obj.undefProp) is ok. There's a common idiom based on this fact:

   value = obj.prop || defaultValue
   

   which means "if obj has the property prop, assign it to value, otherwise assign the default value defautValue".

   Some people consider this behavior confusing, arguing that it leads to hard-to-find errors and recommend using the in operator instead

   value = ('prop' in obj) ? obj.prop : defaultValue
   

Is there a standard function to check for null, undefined, or blank variables in JavaScript?

You can just check if the variable has a truthy value or not. That means

if( value ) {
}

will evaluate to true if value is not:

• null
• undefined
• NaN
• empty string ("")
• 0
• false

The above list represents all possible falsy values in ECMA-/Javascript. Find it in the specification at the ToBoolean section.

Furthermore, if you do not know whether a variable exists (that means, if it was declared) you should check with the typeof operator. For instance

if( typeof foo !== 'undefined' ) {
    // foo could get resolved and it's defined
}

If you can be sure that a variable is declared at least, you should directly check if it has a truthy value like shown above.

How to check if a JavaScript variable is NOT undefined?

var lastname = "Hi";

if(typeof lastname !== "undefined")
{
  alert("Hi. Variable is defined.");
} 

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