null

The value null represents the intentional absence of any object value. It is one of JavaScript's primitive values and is treated as falsy for boolean operations.

Syntax

null

Description

The value null is written with a literal: null. null is not an identifier for a property of the global object, like undefined can be. Instead, null expresses a lack of identification, indicating that a variable points to no object. In APIs, null is often retrieved in a place where an object can be expected but no object is relevant.

// foo does not exist. It is not defined and has never been initialized:
foo; //ReferenceError: foo is not defined

// foo is known to exist now but it has no type or value:
var foo = null;
foo; //null

Examples

Difference between null and undefined

When checking for null or undefined, beware of the differences between equality (==) and identity (===) operators, as the former performs type-conversion.

typeof null          // "object" (not "null" for legacy reasons)
typeof undefined     // "undefined"
null === undefined   // false
null  == undefined   // true
null === null        // true
null  == null        // true
!null                // true
isNaN(1 + null)      // false
isNaN(1 + undefined) // true

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• undefined
• NaN
• void operator