You can just check if the variable has a truthy value or not. That means

if (value) {
    // do something..
}

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.

Answer from jAndy on Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 16
5789

You can just check if the variable has a truthy value or not. That means

if (value) {
    // do something..
}

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.

2 of 16
457

This question has two interpretations:

Check if the variable has a value
Check if the variable has a truthy value

The following answers both.

In JavaScript, a value could be nullish or not nullish, and a value could be falsy or truthy.
Nullish values are a proper subset of falsy values:

 โ•ญโ”€ nullish โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฎ โ•ญโ”€ not nullish โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฎ
โ”Œโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”
โ”‚ undefined โ”‚ null โ”‚ false โ”‚ 0 โ”‚ "" โ”‚ ... โ”‚ true โ”‚ 1 โ”‚ "hello" โ”‚ ... โ”‚
โ””โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”˜
 โ•ฐโ”€ falsy โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฏ โ•ฐโ”€ truthy โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฏ

Check if value is nullish (undefined or null)

Use one of the following depending on your coding style:

if (value == null)                         { /* value is nullish */ }
if (value === undefined || value === null) { /* value is nullish */ }
if (value == undefined)                    { /* value is nullish */ }
if ((value ?? null) === null)              { /* value is nullish */ }

Notes:

  • The == operator works because it has a special case for null vs undefined comparison
  • The === operator is more readable (opinion based), eqeqeq friendly and allows checking for undefined and null separately
  • The first and third examples work identically, however the third one is rarely seen in production code
  • The fourth example uses nullish coalescing operator to change nullish values to null for straight forward comparison

Check if value is not nullish

if (value != null)                         { /* value is not nullish, although it could be falsy */ }
if (value !== undefined && value !== null) { /* value is not nullish, although it could be falsy */ }
if (value != undefined)                    { /* value is not nullish, although it could be falsy */ }
if ((value ?? null) !== null)              { /* value is not nullish, although it could be falsy */ }

Check if value is falsy

Use the ! operator:

if (!value) { /* value is falsy */ }

Check if value is truthy

if (value) { /* value is truthy */ }

Data validation

The nullish, falsy and truthy checks cannot be used for data validation on their own. For example, 0 (falsy) is valid age of a person and -1 (truthy) is not. Additional logic needs to be added on case-by-case basis. Some examples:

/*
 * check if value is greater than/equal to 0
 * note that we cannot use truthy check here because 0 must be allowed
 */
[null, -1, 0, 1].forEach(num => {
  if (num != null && num >= 0) {
    console.log("%o is not nullish and greater than/equal to 0", num);
  } else {
    console.log("%o is bad", num);
  }
});

/*
 * check if value is not empty-or-whitespace string
 */
[null, "", " ", "hello"].forEach(str => {
  if (str && /\S/.test(str)) {
    console.log("%o is truthy and has non-whitespace characters", str);
  } else {
    console.log("%o is bad", str);
  }
});

/*
 * check if value is not an empty array
 * check for truthy before checking the length property
 */
[null, [], [1]].forEach(arr => {
  if (arr && arr.length) {
    console.log("%o is truthy and has one or more items", arr);
  } else {
    console.log("%o is bad", arr);
  }
});

/*
 * check if value is not an empty array
 * using optional chaining operator to make sure that the value is not nullish
 */
[null, [], [1]].forEach(arr => {
  if (arr?.length) {
    console.log("%o is not nullish and has one or more items", arr);
  } else {
    console.log("%o is bad", arr);
  }
});
๐ŸŒ
freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org โ€บ news โ€บ check-if-string-is-empty-or-null-javascript
How to Check if a String is Empty or Null in JavaScript โ€“ JS Tutorial
November 7, 2024 - In this example, we're first using the trim method to remove any leading or trailing whitespace characters from the str variable, then checking whether the resulting string has zero length. If it does, then we know that the string is empty. Otherwise, we know that the string is not empty. Here are some best practices to follow when checking for empty or null strings in JavaScript:
๐ŸŒ
freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org โ€บ news โ€บ javascript-check-empty-string-checking-null-or-empty-in-js
JavaScript Check Empty String โ€“ Checking Null or Empty in JS
November 7, 2024 - let myStr = null; if (myStr === null || myStr.trim() === "") { console.log("This is an empty string!"); } else { console.log("This is not an empty string!"); } ... In this article, we learned how to check for an empty string or null and why they are not the same thing.
Top answer
1 of 5
24

In programming, truthiness or falsiness is that quality of those boolean expressions which don't resolve to an actual boolean value, but which nevertheless get interpreted as a boolean result.

In the case of C, any expression that evaluates to zero is interpreted to be false. In Javascript, the expression value in

if(value) {
}

will evaluate to true if value is not:

null
undefined
NaN
empty string ("")
0
false

See Also
Is there a standard function to check for null, undefined, or blank variables in JavaScript?

2 of 5
9

The set of "truthy" and "falsey" values in JavaScript comes from the ToBoolean abstract operation defined in the ECMAScript spec, which is used when coercing a value to a boolean:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Argument Type | Result                                                   |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| Undefined     | false                                                    |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| Null          | false                                                    |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| Boolean       | The result equals the input argument (no conversion).    |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| Number        | The result is false if the argument is +0, โˆ’0, or NaN;   |
|               | otherwise the result is true.                            |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| String        | The result is false if the argument is the empty String  |
|               | (its length is zero); otherwise the result is true.      |
|---------------+----------------------------------------------------------|
| Object        | true                                                     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From this table, we can see that null and undefined are both coerced to false in a boolean context. However, your fields.length === 0 does not map generally onto a false value. If fields.length is a string, then it will be treated as false (because a zero-length string is false), but if it is an object (including an array) it will coerce to true.

If fields should be a string, then !fields is a sufficient predicate. If fields is an array, your best check might be:

if (!fields || fields.length === 0)
Top answer
1 of 16
5110

Empty string, undefined, null, ...

To check for a truthy value:

if (strValue) {
    // strValue was non-empty string, true, 42, Infinity, [], ...
}

To check for a falsy value:

if (!strValue) {
    // strValue was empty string, false, 0, null, undefined, ...
}

Empty string (only!)

To check for exactly an empty string, compare for strict equality against "" using the === operator:

if (strValue === "") {
    // strValue was empty string
}

To check for not an empty string strictly, use the !== operator:

if (strValue !== "") {
    // strValue was not an empty string
}
2 of 16
1446

For checking if a variable is falsey or if it has length attribute equal to zero (which for a string, means it is empty), I use:

function isEmpty(str) {
    return (!str || str.length === 0 );
}

(Note that strings aren't the only variables with a length attribute, arrays have them as well, for example.)

Alternativaly, you can use the (not so) newly optional chaining and arrow functions to simplify:

const isEmpty = (str) => (!str?.length);

It will check the length, returning undefined in case of a nullish value, without throwing an error. In the case of an empty value, zero is falsy and the result is still valid.

For checking if a variable is falsey or if the string only contains whitespace or is empty, I use:

function isBlank(str) {
    return (!str || /^\s*$/.test(str));
}

If you want, you can monkey-patch the String prototype like this:

String.prototype.isEmpty = function() {
    // This doesn't work the same way as the isEmpty function used 
    // in the first example, it will return true for strings containing only whitespace
    return (this.length === 0 || !this.trim());
};
console.log("example".isEmpty());

Note that monkey-patching built-in types are controversial, as it can break code that depends on the existing structure of built-in types, for whatever reason.

๐ŸŒ
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org โ€บ en-US โ€บ docs โ€บ Web โ€บ JavaScript โ€บ Reference โ€บ Operators โ€บ null
null - JavaScript | MDN
JavaScript is unique to have two nullish values: null and undefined. Semantically, their difference is very minor: undefined represents the absence of a value, while null represents the absence of an object.
๐ŸŒ
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org โ€บ javascript โ€บ how-to-check-empty-undefined-null-string-in-javascript
How to Check empty/undefined/null String in JavaScript? - GeeksforGeeks
July 11, 2025 - Empty strings contain no characters, while null strings have no value assigned. Checking for an empty, undefined, or null string in JavaScript involves verifying if the string is falsy or has a length of zero.
๐ŸŒ
Medium
medium.com โ€บ @python-javascript-php-html-css โ€บ how-to-check-for-empty-undefined-or-null-strings-in-javascript-d8f0bf514ead
How to Use JavaScript to Check for Null, Empty, or Undefined Strings
August 24, 2024 - The scripts provided earlier demonstrate how to check if a string in JavaScript is empty, undefined, or null. In the first script, we create a function called isStringEmpty that accepts a single parameter, value. This function returns true if the value is either undefined, null, or an empty string (โ€œโ€).
Find elsewhere
๐ŸŒ
Sentry
sentry.io โ€บ sentry answers โ€บ javascript โ€บ how do i check for an empty/undefined/null string in javascript?
How do I Check for an Empty/Undefined/Null String in JavaScript? | Sentry
This works because if one of the ... the right side of the logical OR (||) operator is evaluated. To check for an empty string, the logical && operator is used....
๐ŸŒ
Zipy
zipy.ai โ€บ blog โ€บ how-do-i-check-for-an-empty-undefined-null-string-in-javascript
how do i check for an empty undefined null string in javascript
April 12, 2024 - Before we delve into checking for empty, undefined, or null strings, let's clarify what undefined and null signify in JavaScript: undefined means a variable has been declared but has not yet been assigned a value. null is an assignment value ...
๐ŸŒ
LogRocket
blog.logrocket.com โ€บ home โ€บ how to check for null, undefined, or empty values in javascript
How to check for null, undefined, or empty values in JavaScript - LogRocket Blog
February 14, 2025 - Even if you were to do things in other languages that would throw, such as access an entry in an array that is out of bounds, C# would throw, whereas JavaScript would simply return undefined. ... Weโ€™ve got an empty array, and then we try to print out the fifth element from the array. This is out of bounds. The result of this code is undefined. Basically, there are three conditions that we want to account for when checking for values that we think could be null or undefined.
๐ŸŒ
SitePoint
sitepoint.com โ€บ blog โ€บ javascript โ€บ test for empty values in javascript
Test for Empty Values in Javascript โ€” SitePoint
November 6, 2024 - In JavaScript, null is an assignment value that represents no value or no object. It is an intentional absence of any object value. On the other hand, undefined means a variable has been declared but has not yet been assigned a value. Yes, you can use an empty function as a callback.
๐ŸŒ
SamanthaMing
samanthaming.com โ€บ tidbits โ€บ 94-how-to-check-if-object-is-empty
How to Check if Object is Empty in JavaScript | SamanthaMing.com
let value; value // ๐Ÿ‘ˆ null and undefined check && Object.keys(value).length === 0 && value.constructor === Object; value = null; // null value = undefined; // undefined ... What if you need to support older browsers? Heck, who am I kidding! We all know when I say older browsers, I'm referring to Internet Explorer ๐Ÿ˜‚ Well, we have 2 options. We can stick with vanilla or utilize a library. The plain vanilla way is not as concise.
๐ŸŒ
TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com โ€บ how-to-check-empty-undefined-null-strings-in-javascript
How to check empty/undefined/null strings in JavaScript?
In JavaScript, โ€œโ€ represents the empty string, and we can use the null keyword to initialize the string with a null value. If we donโ€™t assign any value to any variable, it is undefined by default. Sometimes, we need to check if the string is empty, u
๐ŸŒ
Medium
medium.com โ€บ @yi_yuan โ€บ understanding-null-undefined-and-empty-strings-in-javascript-a07959084d
Understanding Null, Undefined, and Empty Strings in JavaScript | by Yi Yuan | Medium
January 8, 2023 - Itโ€™s like an empty box that has nothing inside. Hereโ€™s an example using the match() method: let fruitName = โ€˜appleโ€™; console.log(fruitName.match(/a/)) // logs [ โ€˜aโ€™, index: 0, input: โ€˜appleโ€™, groups: undefined ] console.log(fruitName.match(/b/)) // logs null ยท โ€œUndefinedโ€ means that a variable has been declared, but it has no value yet. Itโ€™s like a box that is waiting to be filled with something.
๐ŸŒ
W3docs
w3docs.com โ€บ javascript
How to Check for Empty/Undefined/Null String in JavaScript
When the string is not null or undefined, and you intend to check for an empty one, you can use the length property of the string prototype, as follows: ... Another option is checking the empty string with the comparison operator โ€œ===โ€. ... The JavaScript strings are generally applied for either storing or manipulating text.
๐ŸŒ
Gabrielcordeiro
gabrielcordeiro.dev โ€บ blogs โ€บ what's the difference between null, undefined and empty in javascript
What's the difference between Null, Undefined and Empty in Javascript | Gabriel Schmidt Cordeiro
February 16, 2024 - An empty string is a string with zero characters. While it might seem similar to null or undefined, it is a valid value and can be explicitly assigned to a variable.
๐ŸŒ
DEV Community
dev.to โ€บ akshatsoni26 โ€บ decoding-javascript-mastering-null-undefined-and-empty-values-hld
Decoding JavaScript: Mastering Null, Undefined, and Empty Values - DEV Community
August 4, 2024 - Note: typeof null returns object, ... { console.log(param); } myFunction(); // Output: undefined ยท An empty string is a valid string with a length of zero....