What is the difference between null and undefined in JavaScript?

javascript null undefined
user605334 picture user605334 · Feb 22, 2011 · Viewed 394k times · Source

I want to know what the difference is between null and undefined in JavaScript.

Answer

sebastian picture sebastian · Feb 22, 2011

In JavaScript, undefined means a variable has been declared but has not yet been assigned a value, such as:

var TestVar;
alert(TestVar); //shows undefined
alert(typeof TestVar); //shows undefined

null is an assignment value. It can be assigned to a variable as a representation of no value:

var TestVar = null;
alert(TestVar); //shows null
alert(typeof TestVar); //shows object

From the preceding examples, it is clear that undefined and null are two distinct types: undefined is a type itself (undefined) while null is an object.

null === undefined // false
null == undefined // true
null === null // true

and

null = 'value' // ReferenceError
undefined = 'value' // 'value'

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