How to Determine If a Variable Is 'Undefined' or 'Null'

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.

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 for an undefined or null variable in JavaScript?

You have to differentiate between cases:

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

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
```

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?
}

Check if variable is undefined

undefined is falsy in js...it looks like bar.baz may be your culprit.

How to check if a variable is both null and /or undefined in JavaScript

A variable cannot be both null and undefined at the same time. However, the direct answer to your question is:

if (variable != null)

One =, not two.

There are two special clauses in the "abstract equality comparison algorithm" in the JavaScript spec devoted to the case of one operand being null and the other being undefined, and the result is true for == and false for !=. Thus if the value of the variable is undefined, it's not != null, and if it's not null, it's obviously not != null.

Now, the case of an identifier not being defined at all, either as a var or let, as a function parameter, or as a property of the global context is different. A reference to such an identifier is treated as an error at runtime. You could attempt a reference and catch the error:

var isDefined = false;
try {
  (variable);
  isDefined = true;
}
catch (x) {}

I would personally consider that a questionable practice however. For global symbols that may or may be there based on the presence or absence of some other library, or some similar situation, you can test for a window property (in browser JavaScript):

var isJqueryAvailable = window.jQuery != null;

var isJqueryAvailable = "jQuery" in window;

Checking for null or undefined

Also, I know that
if (value == null) {
}
Will get the job done 90% of the time, unless value is zero... or false... or a number of implicit things that can cause obscure bugs.

No, it gets the job done 100% of the time. The only values that are == null are null and undefined. 0 == null is false. "" == undefined is false. false == null is false. Etc. You're confusing == null with falsiness, which is a very different thing.

That's not to say, though, that it's a good idea to write code expecting everyone to know that. You have a perfectly good, clear check in the code you're already using. Whether you choose to write value == null or the explicit one you're currently using (or if (value === undefined || value === null)) is a matter of style and in-house convention. But value == null does do what you've asked: Checks that value is null or undefined.

The details of == are here: Abstract Equality Comparison.

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
}

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