Object.prototype.toString()

The toString() method returns a string representing the object.

A string representing the object.

An object's toString() method is most commonly invoked when that object undergoes...

• explicit type conversion to a string (for example, String(myObject))
• implicit type coercion into a string (for example, myObject + "hello world")

While not as common, the method can be invoked directly (for example, myObject.toString()).

By default toString() returns "[object Type]", where Type is the object type.

const o = new Object().toString() // o is "[object Object]";

This method is inherited by every object descended from Object, but can be overridden by either the author or built-in descendant objects (for example, Number.prototype.toString()).

By default toString() takes no parameters. However, objects that inherit from Object may override it with their own implementation that do take parameters. For example, the toString() methods implemented by Number and BigInt take an optional radix parameter.

You can create a function to be called in place of the default toString() method. The toString() function you create must return a primitive. If it returns an object and the method is called implicitly (i.e. during type conversion or coercion), then its result will be ignored and the value of a related method, valueOf(), will be used instead, or a TypeError will be thrown if none of these methods return a primitive.

The following code defines the Dog object type and creates theDog, an object of type Dog:

function Dog(name, breed, color, sex) {
  this.name = name;
  this.breed = breed;
  this.color = color;
  this.sex = sex;
}

const theDog = new Dog('Gabby', 'Lab', 'chocolate', 'female');

If you call the toString() method on this custom object, it returns the default value inherited from Object:

theDog.toString(); // returns [object Object]

The following code creates and assigns dogToString() to override the default toString() method. This function generates a string containing the name, breed, color, and sex of the object, in the form "property = value;".

Dog.prototype.toString = function dogToString() {
  return 'Dog ' + this.name + ' is a ' + this.sex + ' ' + this.color + ' ' + this.breed;
}

Or, using template strings:

Dog.prototype.toString = function dogToString() {
  return `Dog ${this.name} is a ${this.sex} ${this.color} ${this.breed}`;
}

With the preceding code in place, any time toString() is used in a Dog context, JavaScript automatically calls the dogToString() function, which returns the following string:

"Dog Gabby is a female chocolate Lab"

toString() can be used with every object and (by default) allows you to get its class.

To use the base Object.prototype.toString() with an object that has had it overridden, you need to call Function.prototype.call() or Function.prototype.apply() on it, passing the object you want to inspect as the first parameter (called thisArg).

const toString = Object.prototype.toString;

toString.call(new Date);    // [object Date]
toString.call(new String);  // [object String]
toString.call(Math);        // [object Math]

// Since JavaScript 1.8.5
toString.call(undefined);   // [object Undefined]
toString.call(null);        // [object Null]

Using toString() in this way is unreliable; objects can change the behavior of Object.prototype.toString() by defining a Symbol.toStringTag property, leading to unexpected results. For example:

const myDate = new Date();
Object.prototype.toString.call(myDate);     // [object Date]

myDate[Symbol.toStringTag] = 'myDate';
Object.prototype.toString.call(myDate);     // [object myDate]

Date.prototype[Symbol.toStringTag] = 'prototype polluted';
Object.prototype.toString.call(new Date()); // [object prototype polluted]

• Polyfill of Object.prototype.toString with Symbol.toStringTag support in core-js
• Object.prototype.toSource()
• Object.prototype.valueOf()
• Number.prototype.toString()
• Symbol.toPrimitive