Question

How do I check if an object property in JavaScript is undefined?

Answer 1

The usual way to check if the value of a property is the special value undefined, is:

if(o.myProperty === undefined) {   alert("myProperty value is the special value `undefined`"); } 

To check if an object does not actually have such a property, and will therefore return undefined by default when you try to access it:

if(!o.hasOwnProperty('myProperty')) {   alert("myProperty does not exist"); } 

To check if the value associated with an identifier is the special value undefined, or if that identifier has not been declared:

if(typeof myVariable === 'undefined') {   alert('myVariable is either the special value `undefined`, or it has not been declared'); } 

Note: this last method is the only way to refer to an undeclared identifier without an early error, which is different from having a value of undefined.

In versions of JavaScript prior to ECMAScript 5, the property named "undefined" on the global object was writeable, and therefore a simple check foo === undefined might behave unexpectedly if it had accidentally been redefined. In modern JavaScript, the property is read-only.

However, in modern JavaScript, "undefined" is not a keyword, and so variables inside functions can be named "undefined" and shadow the global property.

If you are worried about this (unlikely) edge case, you can use the void operator to get at the special undefined value itself:

if(myVariable === void 0) {   alert("myVariable is the special value `undefined`"); }