Is there a “null coalescing” operator in JavaScrip

Question

Is there a null coalescing operator in Javascript?

For example, in C#, I can do this:

String someString = null;
var whatIWant = someString ?? "Cookies!";

The best approximation I can figure out for Javascript is using the conditional operator:

var someString = null;
var whatIWant = someString ? someString : 'Cookies!';

Which is sorta icky IMHO. Can I do better?

Answer 1

beware of the JavaScript specific definition of null. there are two definitions for "no value" in javascript. 1. Null: when a variable is null, it means it contains no data in it, but the variable is already defined in the code. like this:

var myEmptyValue = 1;
myEmptyValue = null;
if ( myEmptyValue === null ) { window.alert('it is null'); }
// alerts

in such case, the type of your variable is actually Object. test it.

window.alert(typeof myEmptyValue); // prints Object

2. Undefined: when a variable has not been defined before in the code, and as expected, it does not contain any value. like this:

   if ( myUndefinedValue === undefined ) { window.alert('it is undefined'); }
   // alerts
   

if such case, the type of your variable is 'undefined'.

notice that if you use the type-converting comparison operator (==), JavaScript will act equally for both of these empty-values. to distinguish between them, always use the type-strict comparison operator (===).

Answer 2

The JavaScript equivalent of the C# null coalescing operator (??) is using a logical OR (||):

var whatIWant = someString || "Cookies!";

There are cases (clarified below) that the behaviour won't match that of C#, but this is the general, terse way of assigning default/alternative values in JavaScript.

---

Clarification

Regardless of the type of the first operand, if casting it to a Boolean results in false, the assignment will use the second operand. Beware of all the cases below:

alert(Boolean(null)); // false
alert(Boolean(undefined)); // false
alert(Boolean(0)); // false
alert(Boolean("")); // false
alert(Boolean("false")); // true -- gotcha! :)

This means:

var whatIWant = null || new ShinyObject(); // is a new shiny object
var whatIWant = undefined || "well defined"; // is "well defined"
var whatIWant = 0 || 42; // is 42
var whatIWant = "" || "a million bucks"; // is "a million bucks"
var whatIWant = "false" || "no way"; // is "false"