There are 3 ways to check for "not null". My recommendation is to use the Strict Not Version.

1. Strict Not Version

if (val !== null) { ... }

The Strict Not Version uses the Strict Equality Comparison Algorithm. The !== operator has faster performance than the != operator, because the Strict Equality Comparison Algorithm doesn't typecast values.

2. Non-strict Not Version

if (val != null) { ... }

The Non-strict Not Version uses the Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. The != operator has slower performance than the !== operator, because the Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm typecasts values.

3. Double Not Version

if (!!val) { ... }

The Double Not Version has faster performance than both the Strict Not Version and the Non-Strict Not Version. However, the !! operator will typecast "falsey" values like 0, '', undefined and NaN into false, which may lead to unexpected results, and it has worse readability because null isn't explicitly stated.

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:

 ╭─ nullish ──────╮ ╭─ not nullish ─────────────────────────────────╮
┌───────────┬──────┬───────┬───┬────┬─────┬──────┬───┬─────────┬─────┐
│ undefined │ null │ false │ 0 │ "" │ ... │ true │ 1 │ "hello" │ ... │
└───────────┴──────┴───────┴───┴────┴─────┴──────┴───┴─────────┴─────┘
 ╰─ falsy ───────────────────────────────╯ ╰─ truthy ───────────────╯

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);
  }
});

Here is how you can test if a variable is not NULL:

if (myVar !== null) {...}

the block will be executed if myVar is not null.. it will be executed if myVar is undefined or false or 0 or NaN or anything else..

Instead of using

if(data !== null && data !== ''  && data!==undefined) {

// do something
}

You can use below simple code

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

• Values that are intuitively “empty”, like 0, an empty string, null, undefined, and NaN, become false
• Other values become true

To check for null SPECIFICALLY you would use this:

if (variable === null)

This test will ONLY pass for null and will not pass for "", undefined, false, 0, or NaN.

Additionally, I've provided absolute checks for each "false-like" value (one that would return true for !variable).

Note, for some of the absolute checks, you will need to implement use of the absolutely equals: === and typeof.

I've created a JSFiddle here to show all of the individual tests working

Here is the output of each check:

Null Test:

if (variable === null)

- variable = ""; (false) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (true) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (false) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (false) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (false) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (false) typeof variable = number



Empty String Test:

if (variable === '')

- variable = ''; (true) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (false) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (false) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (false) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (false) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (false) typeof variable = number




Undefined Test:

if (typeof variable == "undefined")

-- or --

if (variable === undefined)

- variable = ''; (false) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (false) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (true) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (false) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (false) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (false) typeof variable = number



False Test:

if (variable === false)

- variable = ''; (false) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (false) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (false) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (true) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (false) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (false) typeof variable = number



Zero Test:

if (variable === 0)

- variable = ''; (false) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (false) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (false) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (false) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (true) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (false) typeof variable = number



NaN Test:

if (typeof variable == 'number' && !parseFloat(variable) && variable !== 0)

-- or --

if (isNaN(variable))

- variable = ''; (false) typeof variable = string

- variable = null; (false) typeof variable = object

- variable = undefined; (false) typeof variable = undefined

- variable = false; (false) typeof variable = boolean

- variable = 0; (false) typeof variable = number

- variable = NaN; (true) typeof variable = number

As you can see, it's a little more difficult to test against NaN;

The difference is subtle.

In JavaScript an undefined variable is a variable that as never been declared, or never assigned a value. Let's say you declare var a; for instance, then a will be undefined, because it was never assigned any value.

But if you then assign a = null; then a will now be null. In JavaScript null is an object (try typeof null in a JavaScript console if you don't believe me), which means that null is a value (in fact even undefined is a value).

Example:

var a;
typeof a;     # => "undefined"

a = null;
typeof null;  # => "object"

This can prove useful in function arguments. You may want to have a default value, but consider null to be acceptable. In which case you may do:

function doSomething(first, second, optional) {
    if (typeof optional === "undefined") {
        optional = "three";
    }
    // do something
}

If you omit the optional parameter doSomething(1, 2) thenoptional will be the "three" string but if you pass doSomething(1, 2, null) then optional will be null.

As for the equal == and strictly equal === comparators, the first one is weakly type, while strictly equal also checks for the type of values. That means that 0 == "0" will return true; while 0 === "0" will return false, because a number is not a string.

You may use those operators to check between undefined an null. For example:

null === null            # => true
undefined === undefined  # => true
undefined === null       # => false
undefined == null        # => true

The last case is interesting, because it allows you to check if a variable is either undefined or null and nothing else:

function test(val) {
    return val == null;
}
test(null);       # => true
test(undefined);  # => true

Use non-strict comparison with null and then compare numbers:

function check(x) {
  return x != null && 0 <= x;
}

console.log(check(1), true);
console.log(check(0), true);
console.log(check(-1), false);
console.log(check(null), false);
console.log(check(undefined), false);

console.log(check('1'), true);
console.log(check('0'), true);
console.log(check('Hello'), false);
console.log(check('-1 and 2 and 3'), false);

You have to differentiate between cases:

1. Variables can be undefined or undeclared. You'll get an error if you access an undeclared variable in any context other than typeof.

   if(typeof someUndeclaredVar == whatever) // Works
   if(someUndeclaredVar) // Throws an error
   

   A variable that has been declared but not initialized is undefined.

   let foo;
   if (foo) // Evaluates to false because foo === undefined
   

2. Undefined properties, like someExistingObj.someUndefProperty. An undefined property doesn't yield an error and simply returns undefined, which, when converted to a Boolean, evaluates to false. So, if you don't care about 0 and false, using if(obj.undefProp) is OK. There's a common idiom based on this fact:

   value = obj.prop || defaultValue
   

   which means "if obj has the property prop, assign it to value, otherwise assign the default value defautValue".

   Some people consider this behavior confusing, arguing that it leads to hard-to-find errors and recommend using the in operator instead

   value = ('prop' in obj) ? obj.prop : defaultValue
   

The difference can be explained with toilet tissue holder:

• A non-zero value is like a holder with roll of toilet tissue and there's tissue still on the tube.

• A zero value is like a holder with an empty toilet tissue tube.

• A null value is like a holder that doesn't even have a tissue tube.

• An undefined value is similar to the holder itself being missing.

It is a problem with NaN, because

NaN !== NaN

read more here: Testing against NaN.

For filtering the values, you could check for truthyness.

function bouncer(arr) {
    return arr.filter(Boolean);
}

console.log(bouncer([1, "", null, NaN, 2, undefined, 4, 5, 6]));

At the end of the day, because both null and undefined coerce to the same value (Boolean(undefined) === false && Boolean(null) === false), you can technically use either to get the job done. However, there is right way, IMO.

1. Leave the usage of undefined to the JavaScript compiler.

   undefined is used to describe variables that do not point to a reference. It is something that the JS compiler will take care for you. At compile time the JS engine will set the value of all hoisted variables to undefined. As the engine steps through the code and values becomes available the engine will assign respective values to respective variables. For those variables for whom it did not find values, the variables would continue to maintain a reference to the primitive undefined.

2. Only use null if you explicitly want to denote the value of a variable as having "no value".

   As @com2gz states: null is used to define something programmatically empty. undefined is meant to say that the reference is not existing. A null value has a defined reference to "nothing". If you are calling a non-existing property of an object, then you will get undefined. If I would make that property intentionally empty, then it must be null so you know that it's on purpose.

TLDR; Don't use the undefined primitive. It's a value that the JS compiler will automatically set for you when you declare variables without assignment or if you try to access properties of objects for which there is no reference. On the other hand, use null if and only if you intentionally want a variable to have "no value".

Sidebar: I, personally, avoid explicitly setting anything to undefined (and I haven't come across such a pattern in the many codebases/third party libs I've interacted with). Also, I rarely use null. The only times I use null is when I want to denote the value of an argument to a function as having no value, i.e.,:

function printArguments(a,b) {
  console.log(a,b);
}

printArguments(null, " hello") // logs: null hello

var a; declares the variable a but does not assign it value. Its value is undefined, which is why you see "undefined" in the console.

Once you assign it a value (e.g. a = 7;) then it has a value.

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.

In short, a var is null when it's not pointing anywhere. In the other hand, a var equal to "" is a defined var pointing to a variable which contains an empty string. That's essentially different.

[EDIT] As @jfriend00 correctly points out, null is a specific value in javascript. The difference would be then that null is a different value than "", which is an empty string and therefor not null.

The correct value for a var which is not initialized is undefined.

There are just a few revisions I would make.

First, always use === instead of == in Javascript. You can read more about that on Stack Overflow.

Second, since undefined is mutable, I would reccomend using

typeof value === "undefined"

instead of

value === undefined

Third, I would remove the !value and value === "" conditions. They are redundant.

My Revision

I would use a slightly different approach than you:

String.isNullOrEmpty = function(value) {
  return !(typeof value === "string" && value.length > 0);
}

This checks if the type of the value is "string" (and thus non-null and not undefined), and if it is not empty. If so, it is not null or empty.

Note that this returns true for non-string inputs, which might not be what you want if you wanted to throw an error for an unexpected input type.

This is what worked for me (using Expect library with Mocha):

expect(myObject).toExist('Too bad when it does not.');

The DOM methods getElementById(), nextSibling(), childNodes[n], parentNode() and so on return null (defined but having no value) when the call does not return a node object.

The property is defined, but the object it refers to does not exist.

This is one of the few times you may not want to test for equality-

if(x!==undefined) will be true for a null value

but if(x!= undefined) will be true (only) for values that are not either undefined or null.

ES2020 Answer

The new Nullish Coalescing Operator, is finally available on JavaScript. However, do take note of the browser support. You may need to use a JavaScript compiler like Babel to convert it into something more backward compatible.

According to the documentation,

The nullish coalescing operator (??) is a logical operator that returns its right-hand side operand when its left-hand side operand is null or undefined, and otherwise returns its left-hand side operand.

const options={
  filters:{
    firstName:'abc'
  } 
};
const filter = options.filters[0] ?? '';
const filter2 = options.filters[1] ?? '';

This will ensure that both of your variables will have a fallback value of '' if filters[0] or filters[1] are null, or undefined.

Do take note that the nullish coalescing operator does not return the default value for other types of falsy value such as 0 and ''. If you wish to account for all falsy values, you should be using the OR operator ||.

Best described here, but in summary:

undefined is the lack of a type and value, and null is the lack of a value.

Furthermore, if you're doing simple '==' comparisons, you're right, they come out the same. But try ===, which compares both type and value, and you'll notice the difference.

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, −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)