In JavaScript, can someone explain the results of the 2 following expressions:
"4" + 4 and 4 + "4"
Thanks!
Both will result in the String:
"44"
This is because the + operator serves 2 purposes -- addition and concatenation. And, if either operand is a String (or is cast to a String by the internal ToPrimitive()) they'll be concatenated.
This is described in the specification as:
7) If Type(lprim) is String or Type(rprim) is String, then
a) Return the String that is the result of concatenating ToString(lprim) followed by ToString(rprim)
8) Return the result of applying the addition operation to ToNumber(lprim) and ToNumber(rprim). See the Note below 11.6.3.
If you want to ensure addition, you can use parseFloat() or the unary + on each:
var a = "4", b = 4;
console.log(parseFloat(a) + parseFloat(b)); // 8;
console.log((+a) + (+b)); // 8, extra parenthesis for clarity
1+'1'+1 = '111'
1+1+'1' = '21'
'1'+(1+1) = '12'
'1'+1+1 = '111'
Javascript performs math until it hits a string and then switches to concatenation, and it also follows regular formula rules run () operations first.
they'll both be '44'. The presence of the '4' as a string casts the whole operation to a string, so the two characters are concatenated.
Cited from: http://javascript.about.com/od/variablesandoperators/a/vop10.htm
One thing that can be confusing to beginners is that JavaScript uses +
with text strings to mean something completely different from what it
means with numbers. While with numbers + means add the numbers
together with text + means concatenate them together. Concatenation
basically means joining one text string onto the end of the first so
that "my"+"book" gives "mybook" as a result. Where beginners tend to
get confused is that while 3+3 gives 6, "3"+"3" gives "33".
You can also use += with text strings to directly add the variable or
text on the right onto the end of the text string variable on the
left.
Mixing Data Types
Additional confusion can arise when you are working with variables
that are of different types. All operations require that the variables
that they are operating on both be of the same type. Before JavaScript
is able to perform any operations that involve two different data
types, it must first convert one of the variables from one type to the
other. You can't add a number to a text string without first either
converting the number to text or the text to a number.
When converting between data types we have two choices. We can allow
JavaScript to do the conversion for us automatically or we can tell
JavaScript which variable that we want to convert.
JavaScript will attempt to convert any text string into the number
equivalent when performing subtraction, multiplication, division, and
taking remainders. Your text string will actually need to contain
something that JavaScript can convert to a number (i.e., a string like
"10") in order for the conversion to work.
If we use + then this could either mean that we want to convert the
string to a number and add then or that we want to convert the number
to a string and concatenate them. JavaScript can only perform one of
these two alternatives. It always converts numbers to strings (since
that will work whether the string contains a number or not).
Here are some examples.
"5" - 3 = 2;
"5" + 3 = "53"
2 + "7" = "27"
5 + 9 + "1" = "141"
Since subtraction only works with numbers 1 converts the text string
into a number before doing the subtraction.
In 2 and 3 the number is converted to a text string before being
concatenated (joined) to the other text string.
In 4 the leftmost addition is done first. Since these are both numbers
they are actually added together and not treated as text. The result
of this first addition leaves us with a similar situation to the third
example and so the result of that addition is converted to text and
concatenated.
To actually force JavaScript to convert a text string to a number we
can use Number("3") or alternatively to force JavaScript to convert a
number to a text string we can use String(5).
Expressions in JS work on two prime principles.
B O D M A(includes concat) S
Left to right order of execution
However, its not straight forward
for + operator
as far as it encounters numbers it will do math addition using left to right execution, However,as soon as it encounters a string, it concatenates the result (that's calculated till encountering a string) with rest of the expression.
//left to right execution
console.log(10+10+"10") //2010, (10+10) of numtype + "10" of stringtype concat(20+"10")
console.log(10+10+"10"+10+10) //20101010,
//(10+10) of number type + "10" stringtype(now since a string is enc.) + (10+10) of number type would act as strings and get concatenated = 20+"10"+"1010"
console.log("10"+[10,10,10]+10) //1010,10,1010
//"10"of stringtype + array of numtypes + 10 of numtype
// "10" concats with first element of array, last number 10 concats with last element of array.
for all other operators such as -,*,/,^...
if all occurrences are numbers/numbers as string, it will do the respective math operation treating "numbers as string" to be numbers.
console.log("10"-10) //0
console.log("10"/10) //1
console.log("10"*10) //100
console.log(10+"10"*10) //110 //BODMAS
console.log(Math.pow(10,"10")) //10000000000
if there are occurrences of non-numeric strings,arrays,objects in the middle of expression that involve (-,*,/,^...)math operations, it will always return NaN
console.log(10-{id:1,name:"hey"}-10) //NaN
console.log(10-10-"hey"-10-10-10) //NaN
console.log("hey"/10) //NaN
console.log("hey"* 3) //NaN
console.log(["hey","hey"]*"3") //NaN
console.log("10"/[10,10,10]/10) //NaN
Related
This question already has answers here:
Why does JavaScript handle the plus and minus operators between strings and numbers differently?
(7 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
Why does Javascript give an output of 0 when I use the odd operator?
What is the difference between subtraction and addition with a string?
var x = 1;
console.log(x+'1') // Outputs 11
console.log(x-'1') // Outputs 0 -- but why?
So how can I do mathematical calculations?
The + operator has one of two three meanings in javascript. The first is to add numbers, the second is to concatenate strings. When you do 1 + '1' or '1' + 1 the operator will convert one operand that is not a string to a string first, because one other operand is already evaluated to be a string. The - operator on the other hand has just one purpose, which is to subtract the right operand from the left operand. This is a math operation, and so the JS engine will try to convert both operands to numbers, if they are of any other datatype.
I'm not sure though why typecasting to strings appears to have precedence over typecasting to numbers, but it obviously does.
(It seems to me the most likely that this is a pure specification decision rather than the result of other language mechanics.)
If you want to make sure that the + operator acts as an addition operator, you can explicitly cast values to a number first. Although javascript does not technically distinguish between integers and floats, two functions exist to convert other datatypes to their number equivalents: parseInt() and parseFloat() respectively:
const x = 10;
const result = x + parseInt('1'); // 11
const y = 5;
const result2 = y + parseFloat('1.5'); // 6.5
const result3 = y + parseInt('1.5'); // 6
Edit
As jcaron states in the comment below, the + operator has a third meaning in the form of an unary + operator. If + only has a right operand, it will try to convert its value to a number almost equivalent as how parseFloat does it:
+ '1'; // returns 1
+ '1.5'; // returns 1.5
// In the context of the previous example:
const y = 5;
const result2 = y + +'1.5'; // 6.5
Dhe difference with parseFloat is that parseFloat will create a substring of the source string to the point where that substring would become an invalid numeric, whereas unary + will always take the entire string as its input:
parseFloat('1.5no-longer-valid'); // 1.5
+ '1.5no-longer-valid'; // NaN
That is because + is a concatenation operator. So javascript considers it to be a concatenation operator rather than a mathematical operator.But it is not the case with / ,* ,/ etc.
This happens because + its also used to concatenate strings. Then, JS always will find the better way to make the correct typecasts basing on types. In this case, the x+'1' operation, will be identified as string type + string type.
Otherwise, x-'1', will become int type - int type.
If you want to work with specific types, try to use type cast conversions, link here.
This question already has answers here:
Javascript (+) sign concatenates instead of giving sum of variables
(14 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I have been playing around with cookies for the first time, and I have saving part of it completed. The data I'm saving are numbers and the most important part of these nubers is that I can add, subtract and so on with these. However when I try to add a number to one of my saved parametres it adds them as if they were text.
Example:
I have a cookie called value, and when I want this value I use a script I found by Jeffery To that looks like this:
function readCookie(name) {
return (name = new RegExp('(?:^|;\\s*)' + ('' + name).replace(/[-[\]{}()*+?.,\\^$|#\s]/g, '\\$&') + '=([^;]*)').exec(document.cookie)) && name[1];
}
After I have collected this cookie I want to add one to it. Lets say that value equals nine, when it should look like this: value + 1 = 10. Simple math. However it gives me this 91. Why does it do this? I know that it is because it thinks the numbers are a string of text, but how can I get this to behave like numbers?
Solution
After reading the comments I learned that i needed to put my value inside a parseInt(). So i simply modified the funtion to say:
function readCookie(name) {
return parseInt((name = new RegExp('(?:^|;\\s*)' + ('' + name).replace(/[-[\]{}()*+?.,\\^$|#\s]/g, '\\$&') + '=([^;]*)').exec(document.cookie)) && name[1]);
}
The + operator in JavaScript can mean mathematical addition or string concatenation. The one you get is based on the implicit type of the operands. If one of the operands is a string, the other will be converted to a string and you'll get concatenation.
The trick is to do the math on the numbers first (you can surround the math portion with parenthesis or do the math in a separate statement) and then inject the result into your string.
To force a string containing a number character into a number, you can use parseInt() and parseFloat():
var result = parseInt(value, 10) + 1;
Note that with parseInt(), you should supply the optional second argument, which specifies the radix for the operation. If the first argument happens to refer to a string that contains a hex value, the result will be based on hex, not base 10. That's why 10 is used in my example.
Also note that both parseInt() and parseFloat() stop after finding the first non-valid characters that can't be treated as numbers. So, in a string like this: "Scott7Marcy9", you would get NaN.
Cookies are saved as string values as you guessed. To get your desired effect, you're going to need to parse your value. If you are absolutely sure it will be an integer, use:
parseInt(value) + 1
This question already has answers here:
Why does JavaScript handle the plus and minus operators between strings and numbers differently?
(7 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I read a book about operators in Javascript, and this confused me.
console.log("5"+1);
This would make "5" as a string. So the result would be 51.
console.log("5"-1);
This result would be 4. I know it converts "5" to 5, but why it isn't shown undefined as "a string minus a number"?
Update: So how about other languages? Are they more restrict?
Sadly, it was expected from JavaScript to ride on Java's success for promotion on its early days and the plus for string concatenation was adopted since Java used it.
So JavaScript tries hard to coerce strings into numbers for you, it really does, its just that the plus was taken for strings so....well...
While Javascript has many strenghts it was made in 10 days and has many hilarious aspects like this one, check this comedy gold
The + is a operator that means SUM when adding numbers and that means CONCATENATE when using Strings.
As the first is a STRING, it will continue concatenating a "5"+toString(1).
As the MINUS (-) operator does not work with String you are getting undefined.
If you want to use MINUS operator, you will need to do :
parseInt("5") -> It will give you 5, the number
parseInt("5")-1 = 4
"5"+1 = 51
parseInt("5")+1 = 6
Hope it will help you
Because when we use '+' it can be used in two different ways:-
1. as mathematical operator.
2. to concatenate strings
but '-' can only be used as mathematical operator.
Hence javascript considers '5' as numerics in case of '-' while '5' as string in case of '+'.
In javascript (+) operator operates the way described below
3+true will return 4 , (+) operator between a number and a boolean or two boolean will convert boolean to number , hence true is converted to 1 hence the result is 4
"2"+true will return "2true" , if one of the operand is string it will convert the other operand (number or boolean) to string and process the concatenation
-"12"+3 will return -9 , (-) operator in front of string will convert the string to number and will make it as -12 and return -9
According to the standard EcmaScript 262. The + and - operators behave differently when strings are involved. The first converts every value to a string. The second converts every value to a number.
From the standard:
If Type(lprim) is String or Type(rprim) is String, then Return the
String that is the result of concatenating ToString(lprim) followed by
ToString(rprim)
This rules implies that if in the expression there is a string value, all values involved in the + operation are converted to a string. In JavaScript when the + operator is used with strings, it concatenates them. This is why console.log("5"+1) returns "51". 1 is converted to a string and then, "5" + "1" are concatenated together.
Nevertheless, the above rule doesn't apply for the - operator. When you are using a - all values are converted to numbers according to the Standard (see below). Therefore, in this case, "5" is converted to 5 and then 1 is subtracted.
From the standard:
5 Let lnum be ToNumber(lval).
6 Let rnum be ToNumber(rval).
Operator definition from the standard EcmaScript 262.
Operator + : http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-11.6.1
Operator - : http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-11.6.2
Because of the type coercion and how it isn't very consistent in JavaScript, in the second case the "5" is converted to a number 5, and 1 is subtracted from it, giving you 4.
"5" could be coerced to 5 (Integer). That's why you get 4 as output.
However if you try:
console.log("text" - 1);
Text cannot be coerced, and the output is NaN
The subtraction operator (-) subtracts the number to the right of the operator from the number on the left.
When either of the operands are strings, an attempt is made to convert the strings to numbers.
Instead of using "5" if you try console.log("abc" - 1); it will prompt a error as NaN.
Just for the info:
The subtract operator has special rules to deal with the variety of type conversions present in JavaScript:
If the two operands are numbers, perform arithmetic subtract and return the result.
If either number is NaN, the result is NaN.
If Infinity is subtracted from Infinity, the result is NaN.
If –Infinity is subtracted from –Infinity, the result is NaN.
If –Infinity is subtracted from Infinity, the result is Infinity.
If Infinity is subtracted from –Infinity, the result is –Infinity.
If +0 is subtracted from +0, the result is +0.
If –0 is subtracted from +0, the result is –0.
If –0 is subtracted from –0, the result is +0.
If either of the two operands is not a number, the result is NaN.
I am trying to alert the following,
1. alert(1+1+1+1+1);
//output: 5
2. alert('1'+1+1+1+1);
//output: 11111
3. alert(1+1+1+1+'1');
//output: 41
4. alert(1+1+'1'+1+1);
//output: 2111
Does anyone can explain about the type of message in alert ?
Thank you in Advance.
Alright so in javasciprt, number + number + number = number (Your case 1)
Whereas, a number after string concatenates with the String, and results in a string as output '1'+1 = '11' + 1 = '111' and so on. (Your case 2)
In the third case, the string just comes at the end of the number which get's casted to string and result will simply be number followed by string in string form.. 2+'432' = '2432'.
Last case is the mix of all the above 1+1 = 2 + '1' = '21'+1 = '211'+1 = '2111'.
Javascript is a weakly typed language with operator overloading. That is why you are getting those 'strange' behaviours.
Wow, operator overloading. huh?
The + in javascript has multiple functions. One being: adding up numbers and another one is concatenating strings together. this is called operator overloading. compared to PHP, adding up numbers is + but concatenating strings is .
The big problem with operator overloading is. What if we have String + Number. Or Number + String ?
Different rules apply:
1+1+1+1+1
This is easy, adding up 5 numbers.
'1'+1+1+1+1
This is harder one. What he sees is a String, so he concatenates it with the next part (the 2nd 1). Then he continues. String(11) + 1, gives String(111) and so on.
The 3rd example is fun. he starts adding up all the numbers, untill he reaches the last + sign. And it no has Number(4) + String(1). So he converts the Number to a string and Concatenates them together.
Same goes for the last example. If one of the two is a String, the + sign is interpreted as a Contatenation.
I was reading w3school's Automatic type conversion and I think this is relevant from your question.
It says:
When JavaScript tries to operate on a "wrong" data type, it will try to convert the value to a "right" type.
It says that the result is not always what you expect:
5 + null // returns 5 because null is converted to 0
"5" + null // returns "5null" because null is converted to "null"
"5" + 1 // returns "51" because 1 is converted to "1"
"5" - 1 // returns 4 because "5" is converted to 5
I am puzzled by this snippet:
var n1 = 5-"4";
var n2 = 5+"4";
alert(n1);
alert(n2);
I understand that n1 is 1. That is because a minus operator would convert the string "4" into number and subtract it from 5.
But why do we get 54 in case of + operator?
Can someone explain this difference between + and = operators to me?
By type conversion any + expression, that contains a strings, will result in a string. Thus all operands (in your case 5) will be converted to a string, before executing the concatenation.
- on the other hand is just an arithmetic operand, thus "4" is converted to an integer and the calculation is performed as you expect.
It's because in n2, + is being treated as concatenation, not addition. So 5 is converted to the string "5" and "4" is concatenated, giving "54".
When there's a string in either side of +, the + will be considered as a string concatenating operator, the other side will be converted to string and then do the concatenating.
And be careful of something like 1+2+'3', the result is '33' rather than '123'.
- operator has only one meaning - numbers subtraction (or negation and in that case, also conversion to number). In case of + operator, however, there are two: number addition and strings concatenation. When one of the operands of + operator is a string it does string concatenation instead of numbers addition.
The entire process is a bit more complicated than that though and involves an algorithm that you can learn a bit more here, for example.
The + operator is also a string operator. Quite every basic type variable in javascript can be interpreted also in its string representation. You are just attaching 5 to 4 getting 54.
The - operator is not a string operator so the compiler tries to interpret "4" as a number, thus getting 1
Javascript takes 5 as a number and "4" as string.
The javascript + operator use to concat two things.
If you want to addition please use parseInt.
var n1 = 5-"4";
var n2 = parseInt(5)+parseInt("4");
alert(n1);
alert(n2);