Check if a value is an object in JavaScript

Question

How do you check if a value is an object in JavaScript?

Answer 1

Ready to use functions for checking

function isObject(o) {
  return null != o && 
    typeof o === 'object' && 
    Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Object]';
}

function isDerivedObject(o) {
  return !isObject(o) && 
    null != o && 
    (typeof o === 'object' || typeof o === 'function') &&
    /^\[object /.test(Object.prototype.toString.call(o));
}

// Loose equality operator (==) is intentionally used to check
// for undefined too

// Also note that, even null is an object, within isDerivedObject
// function we skip that and always return false for null

---

Explanation

• In Javascript, null, Object, Array, Date and functions are all objects. Although, null is bit contrived. So, it's better to check for the null first, to detect it's not null.

• Checking for typeof o === 'object' guarantees that o is an object. Without this check, Object.prototype.toString would be meaningless, since it would return object for everthing, even for undefined and null! For example: toString(undefined) returns [object Undefined]!

  After typeof o === 'object' check, toString.call(o) is a great method to check whether o is an object, a derived object like Array, Date or a function.

• In isDerivedObject function, it checks for the o is a function. Because, function also an object, that's why it's there. If it didn't do that, function will return as false. Example: isDerivedObject(function() {}) would return false, however now it returns true.

• One can always change the definition of what is an object. So, one can change these functions accordingly.

---

Tests

function isObject(o) {
  return null != o && 
    typeof o === 'object' && 
    Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Object]';
}

function isDerivedObject(o) {
  return !isObject(o) && 
    null != o && 
    (typeof o === 'object' || typeof o === 'function') &&
    /^\[object /.test(Object.prototype.toString.call(o));
}

// TESTS

// is null an object?

console.log(
  'is null an object?', isObject(null)
);

console.log(
  'is null a derived object?', isDerivedObject(null)
);

// is 1234 an object?

console.log(
  'is 1234 an object?', isObject(1234)
);

console.log(
  'is 1234 a derived object?', isDerivedObject(1234)
);

// is new Number(1234) an object?

console.log(
  'is new Number(1234) an object?', isObject(new Number(1234))
);

console.log(
  'is new Number(1234) a derived object?', isDerivedObject(1234)
);

// is function object an object?

console.log(
  'is (new (function (){})) an object?', 
  isObject((new (function (){})))
);

console.log(
  'is (new (function (){})) a derived object?', 
  isObject((new (function (){})))
);

// is {} an object?

console.log(
  'is {} an object?', isObject({})
);

console.log(
  'is {} a derived object?', isDerivedObject({})
);

// is Array an object?

console.log(
  'is Array an object?',
  isObject([])
)

console.log(
  'is Array a derived object?',
  isDerivedObject([])
)

// is Date an object?

console.log(
  'is Date an object?', isObject(new Date())
);

console.log(
  'is Date a derived object?', isDerivedObject(new Date())
);

// is function an object?

console.log(
  'is function an object?', isObject(function(){})
);

console.log(
  'is function a derived object?', isDerivedObject(function(){})
);