Logical NOT (!)
The logical NOT (!
) operator (logical complement, negation) takes truth to
falsity and vice versa. It is typically used with boolean (logical)
values. When used with non-Boolean values, it returns false
if its single
operand can be converted to true
; otherwise, returns true
.
Syntax
!expr
Description
Returns false
if its single operand can be converted to true
;
otherwise, returns true
.
If a value can be converted to true
, the value is so-called
truthy. If a value can be converted to false
, the value is
so-called falsy.
Examples of expressions that can be converted to false are:
null
;NaN
;0
;- empty string (
""
or''
or``
); undefined
.
Even though the !
operator can be used with operands that are not Boolean
values, it can still be considered a boolean operator since its return value can always
be converted to a boolean primitive.
To explicitly convert its return value (or any expression in general) to the
corresponding boolean value,
use a double NOT operator
or the Boolean
constructor.
Examples
Using NOT
The following code shows examples of the !
(logical NOT) operator.
n1 = !true // !t returns false
n2 = !false // !f returns true
n3 = !'' // !f returns true
n4 = !'Cat' // !t returns false
Double NOT (!!
)
It is possible to use a couple of NOT operators in series to explicitly force the conversion of any value to the corresponding boolean primitive. The conversion is based on the "truthyness" or "falsyness" of the value (see truthy and falsy).
The same conversion can be done through the Boolean
function.
n1 = !!true // !!truthy returns true
n2 = !!{} // !!truthy returns true: any object is truthy...
n3 = !!(new Boolean(false)) // ...even Boolean objects with a false .valueOf()!
n4 = !!false // !!falsy returns false
n5 = !!"" // !!falsy returns false
n6 = !!Boolean(false) // !!falsy returns false
Converting between NOTs
The following operation involving booleans:
!!bCondition
is always equal to:
bCondition
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-logical-not-operator |
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