JavaScript Null, Undefined and NaN

JavaScript null

JavaScript null is “used to represent the intentional absence of any object value”. Null is distinct from other primitive data types such as undefined, boolean, number, and string in that it is explicitly set by a programmer to indicate a non-value state. In contrast, other primitive data types represent specific values.

The value null is written with a literal: null. The null is not an identifier for a property of the global object, like undefined can be. Instead, null expresses a lack of identification, indicating that the variable points to no object.

const marvel = null

console.log(marvel)

The output is null.

Let’s remove the first line from the above code and see the output.

console.log(marvel)

Run the file in the node environment and see the output.

Javascript null Tutorial With Example

See, it throws an error. So when we assign the null value, it returns the null.

Proof that a null is an object in Javascript

What if we want to check the type of null? We have a function called typeof() that checks the type of any object or value. So, let’s check the typeof() null.

let marvel = null

console.log(typeof(marvel))

See the output.

Javascript Null, Undefined and NaN Tutorial With Example

So, null is an object in Javascript.

The null is falsy

In Javascript, null is the falsy value (i.e., “it evaluates to false if coerced to a boolean)”. Thus, the easiest way to check for null is to know that null evaluates to false in conditionals or if coerced to the boolean value.

const notSureifNull = null
if (notSureifNull) {
 console.log("Not null")
}
else {
 console.log("It could be null")
} // Could be null

for (let i = 0; null; i++) {
 console.log("It won't run")
}

notSureifNull ? console.log("truthy value") : console.log("Falsy value")

Output

Could be null
Falsy value

When you run the above file, you will get this output, which does not comprehend null from the other false values.

Declaring null in JavaScript

We can assign a null object to any variable during the declaration. Javascript variables come to life as the assignment operator, which helps us assign a particular value to the variable.

let data = null

console.log(data)

Output

null

In some programming languages, they don’t have to have an initial value assigned to them.

For example, the initial value for some variables might be Null.

JavaScript undefined

JavaScript undefined is a “primitive data type representing a value that is not defined or initialized”. It is often used to indicate the absence of a value or that a variable or object property has not been assigned a value.

The undefined is the property of a global object, i.e., the variable in the global scope. An initial value of undefined is the primitive value undefined. A variable that has not been assigned a value is of type undefined.

The method or statement also returns undefined if the variable that is being evaluated does not have an assigned value. See the following example.

let marvel

console.log(marvel == undefined)

So, if the marvel is undefined, it will return a true or otherwise false. This is because we have not assigned the value to the marvel yet; that is why it returns undefined. 

The output is the following,

Javascript undefined

If you define a function that has a return statement or returns no value, then it returns undefined.

function js_undefined() {

}
console.log(js_null())

Output

undefined

When you call the js_undefined() function, it returns undefined because there is no return statement. 

In the console, printing shows undefined, showing that we explicitly force print the output. 

How to declare an undefined in Javascript

In some programming languages, you don’t have to have an initial value assigned to them. For example, the initial value for some variables might be Null, or in the Javascript case, it is undefined.

So, if you declare a variable in Javascript and do not assign the initial value, then the value of that variable is automatically undefined.

let data

console.log(data)

Output

undefined

If we don’t define a variable and direct print its value in the console, then we will get ReferenceError.

console.log(data)

Output

console.log(data)
 ^

ReferenceError: data is not defined

All variables in Javascript come into life through the assignment operator.

A variable can only start life as undefined if you don’t assign any value.

If you don’t define a variable and directly try to print in the console, you will get ReferenceError.

JavaScript NaN

JavaScript NaN is a global property value that represents Not-A-Number. JavaScript returns this value when the Number we are supposed to get isn’t a number.

For example, when trying to subtract an “appdividend” from 21 or divide 12 by “KDL”.

console.log('Appdividend' - 30)

See the output.

Javascript NaN

The NaN property is the same as the Number.Nan property.

When adding something to the string, we can use the isNaN() global function to check if a value is a NaN value. If JavaScript sees a + sign and a string, it automatically converts the second additional element into the string.

Let’s check the typeof NaN.

console.log(typeof NaN)

Run the file and see the output.

typeof NaN Example

The data type of NaN is a Number. Not an object or undefined or null.

If NaN compared to itself returns false, no matter what we’re going to compare it to, it will always be false. See the following code.

console.log(NaN === NaN)

console.log(NaN == NaN)

See the output.

NaN in Javascript

Declaring NaN in Javascript

You can assign a NaN value to any variable using an assignment operator.

let data = NaN

console.log(data)

Output

NaN

Using NaN as part of a comparison

NaN compares unequal (via ==, !=, ===, and !==) to any other value, including another NaN value. Use Number.isNaN() to check whether a value is NaN. Or perform a self-comparison: NaN, and only NaN, will compare unequal to itself.

console.log(NaN === NaN);
console.log(Number.NaN === NaN)
console.log(isNaN(NaN))
console.log(isNaN(Number.NaN))

Output

false
false
true
true

We have compared NaN values with itself and other values using triple equality or strict comparison operator. From the output, we can see that NaN is not strictly equal to NaN. For example, even the Number object’s NaN property is not similar to NaN.

Then we have to test NaN and Number.NaN values with the built-in JavSscript isNaN() function, which returns true.

That’s it.

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