I'm a bit confused when checking if null or undefined and if I should be using !==
or !=
and "undefined" or undefined.
Here is some code I'm working on. Where am I going wrong with my null/unudefined etc?
var c = (jQuery(this).prop("target") != null && jQuery(this).prop("target") != undefined && jQuery(this).prop("target").toLowerCase() == "_blank") ? 1 : 0;
Thanks
Both null
and undefined
are "falsy" values, thus they can be checked like they were boolean values. Thus, there's no sense comparing to null
and undefined
except for certain situations where you need to know if they are such values.
when comparing, it's best to use strict comparison (like ===
,!==
and so on)
the &&
in a condition does not evaluate the following condition if the one preceeding it is "falsy".
You don't even need jQuery since this
is your DOM object (presumably an <a>
) and you are trying to get the target
property:
In the end:
var c = (this.target && this.target.toLowerCase() === "_blank") ? 1 : 0;
In general, keep it simple.
To check for undefined
, use:
foo === undefined
foo !== undefined
To check for null
, use:
foo === null
foo !== null
To check for either at the same time, use:
foo == null
foo != null
And in any case, store your .prop()
to a variable to keep it clean. But in your case, if it equals "_blank"
, then you know it isn't null
or undefined
, so:
var targ = jQuery(this).prop("target").toLowerCase();
var c = targ === "_blank" ? 1 : 0;
Or you could make it even shorter by coercing the boolean
to a number
:
var targ = jQuery(this).prop("target").toLowerCase();
var c = +(targ === "_blank");
These last two solutions are safe because .prop()
will always return a string
.
This is the best way to checking undefined:
if(typeof variable_here != 'undefined'){
// your code here.
};
And this is the best way to checking null:
if(variable_here !== null){
// your code here.
};
So your code should be like this:
var c = (jQuery(this).prop("target") !== null && typeof jQuery(this).prop("target") !== 'undefined' && jQuery(this).prop("target").toLowerCase() == "_blank") ? 1 : 0;
Since undefined would be the variable type, use typeof
var c = (
$(this).attr("target") != NULL &&
typeof $(this).attr("target") != "undefined" &&
$(this).attr("target").toLowerCase() == "_blank"
) ? 1 : 0;
I think, however, that you only need the last check. Is target "_blank"
, c
needs to be 1
, otherwise, 0
. Does it really matter if target
is even set?
Also, use the attr() methode to get attributes, since prop()
if for properties like selectedIndex
or tagName
.
Don't get the same property 3 times just to check a value.
var c = 0;
var prop = $(this).prop("target");
if(prop && prop.toLowerCase() === "_blank") c = 1;
I got something like this which is not relevent to your question but will help you
var targ = jQuery(this).prop("target").toLowerCase();
now if you want to check whether targ is null or undefined
var c = (!targ || "") ? 1 : 0
hope this will help you