CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptstringequals
Isaac
Isaac

Reputation: 1707

Why does "true" == true show false in JavaScript?

MDC describes the == operator as follows:

If the two operands are not of the same type, JavaScript converts the operands then applies strict comparison. If either operand is a number or a boolean, the operands are converted to numbers if possible; else if either operand is a string, the other operand is converted to a string if possible.

With this in mind, I would evaluate "true" == true as follows:

  1. Are they of the same type? No
  2. Is either operand a number or boolean? Yes
  3. Can we convert both to a number? No (isNaN(Number("true")) // true)
  4. Is either operand a string? Yes
  5. Can we convert the other operand to a string? Yes (String(true) === "true" // true)

I've ended up with the strings "true" and "true", which should evaluate to true, but JavaScript shows false.

What have I missed?

Upvotes: 103

Views: 46011

Answers (5)

eden
eden

Reputation: 115

The equality operators (== and !=) use the Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm to compare two operands.

"true" == true

Since "true" is String and true is Boolean, we need to return the result of "true" == Number(true) (step 7 in the algorithm), which is "true" == 1.

"true" == 1

Since "true" is String and 1 is Number, we need to return the result of Number("true") == 1 (step 5 in the algorithm). Number("true") returns NaN. Now we have NaN == 1.

NaN == 1

Now both operands are of the same type (Number). Acording to the algorithm, if both operands are Number and one of them is NaN, false is returned (step 1.c.i in the algorithm).

Upvotes: 2

novice2ninja
novice2ninja

Reputation: 471

Explaining considering the scenario true == "true".
Straightway, the above returns false, however, our expectation was true
JavaScript uses Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm, so according to the algorithm

true == "true"

// If one of the operands is Boolean, convert the Boolean operand to 1 if it is true and +0 if it is false
ConvertToNumber(true) == "true"

1 == "true"

// When the algorithm finds the above statements, it thinks that it needs to do one more conversion - 
// "When comparing a number to a string, try to convert the string to a numeric value"
1 == ConvertToNumber("true)
1 == NaN

// Which returns false

Upvotes: 0

nobitavn94
nobitavn94

Reputation: 327

The == comparison operator is defined in ECMA 5 as:

  1. If Type(x) is Number and Type(y) is String,
    return the result of the comparison x == ToNumber(y).
  2. If Type(x) is String and Type(y) is Number,
    return the result of the comparison ToNumber(x) == y.
  3. If Type(x) is Boolean, return the result of the comparison ToNumber(x) == y.
  4. If Type(y) is Boolean, return the result of the comparison x == ToNumber(y).

So, "true" == true is evaluated as:

  1. "true" == ToNumber(true)   (via rule 7)
  2. "true" == 1
  3. ToNumber("true") == 1   (via rule 5)
  4. NaN == 1

===> false

Upvotes: 22

Zohaib Ijaz
Zohaib Ijaz

Reputation: 22885

Acording to The Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm

http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-11.9.3

if one of the oprends is a boolean and other is not, boolean is converter to number 0 or 1. so true == "true" is false.

Upvotes: 4

MaxArt
MaxArt

Reputation: 22617

Because "true" is converted to NaN, while true is converted to 1. So they differ.

Like you reported, both are converted to numbers, because at least true can be (see Erik Reppen's comment), and then compared.

Upvotes: 102

Related Questions