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difference between null and undefined?

please describe with an example. thanks in advanced

1st Dec 2016, 3:04 PM
Tarun Juluru
Tarun Juluru - avatar
1 Answer
+ 4
Javascript is a mess man. Both mean 'nothing' so in practice there's not much of a difference, and it's ok to be confused about the two. Technically though, variables are `undefined` if they have been declared but haven't been assigned a value yet. undefined also gets it's own type, "undefined". var a; console.log(a); // undefined console.log(typeof(a)); // "undefined" If variables haven't even been declared, using them throws. console.log(b); // Uncaught ReferenceError: b is not defined `null` is an actual thing you assign to variables. var a; a = null; console.log(a); // null console.log(typeof(a)); // "object" `null` is not a real object though, as you know when you try to access a property of it: var a = null; console.log(a.lol); // Uncaught TypeError: cannot read property 'lol' of null You can also assign `undefined` to a variable so that muddies the water a bit, and I don't really recommend it. var a = 4; a = undefined; console.log(typeof(a)); // "undefined" Bottom line: use undefined for undefined checks (eg `if(a === undefined)`) and null for everything else, especially never assign undefined to a variable. Also note that `null == undefined`, but `null !== undefined`.
2nd Dec 2016, 12:04 AM
Schindlabua
Schindlabua - avatar