Javascript String Compare == sometimes fails

javascript string compare
chaimp picture chaimp · May 14, 2009 · Viewed 91.6k times · Source

How could the following code sometimes evaluate to false?

(transport.responseText == '1' || 
 transport.responseText == 'CARD_VALID')

My JavaScript code:

if (transport.responseText == '1' || 
    transport.responseText == 'CARD_VALID') {
    // do something.
}
else if (transport.responseText == 'CARD_INVALID' || 
             transport.responseText == 'INVALID_CHECKSUM') {
    // do something else....
}
else {
    new Ajax.Request('/report_error.php?responseText='+transport.responseText);
    // report error to user
}

What could cause JavaScript string compare == to return false when the strings are identical?

Answer

Jacob picture Jacob · Sep 26, 2012

Double equals is the appropriate way to compare strings in Javascript, it is returning false then there may be whitespace to the left and or right of one string.

Put a .trim() on the end of the strings and my comparison should started working:

var panel = response.substr(0, response.indexOf("<")).trim();
if(panel == "combo"){
    //do something
}

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