CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascript
goh
goh

Reputation: 29511

What is the purpose of a plus symbol before a variable?

What does the +d in

function addMonths(d, n, keepTime) { 
    if (+d) {

mean?

Upvotes: 497

Views: 202942

Answers (4)

Paul Sonier
Paul Sonier

Reputation: 39480

The + operator returns the numeric representation of the object. So in your particular case, it would appear to be predicating the if on whether or not d is a non-zero number.

Reference here. And, as pointed out in comments, here.

Upvotes: 551

JSowa
JSowa

Reputation: 10572

Operator + is a unary operator which converts the value to a number. Below is a table with corresponding results of using this operator for different values.

+----------------------------+-----------+
| Value                      | + (Value) |
+----------------------------+-----------+
| 1                          | 1         |
| '-1'                       | -1        |
| '3.14'                     | 3.14      |
| '3'                        | 3         |
| '0xAA'                     | 170       |
| true                       | 1         |
| false                      | 0         |
| null                       | 0         |
| 'Infinity'                 | Infinity  |
| 'infinity'                 | NaN       |
| '10a'                      | NaN       |
| undefined                  | NaN       |
| ['Apple']                  | NaN       |
| function(val){ return val }| NaN       |
+----------------------------+-----------+

Operator + returns a value for objects which have implemented method valueOf.

let something = {
    valueOf: function () {
        return 25;
    }
};

console.log(+something);

Upvotes: 115

RubenLaguna
RubenLaguna

Reputation: 24666

As explained in other answers it converts the variable to a number. Specially useful when d can be either a number or a string that evaluates to a number.

Example (using the addMonths function in the question):

addMonths(34,1,true);
addMonths("34",1,true);

then the +d will evaluate to a number in all cases. Thus avoiding the need to check for the type and take different code paths depending on whether d is a number, a function or a string that can be converted to a number.

Upvotes: 21

naivists
naivists

Reputation: 33501

It is a unary "+" operator which yields a numeric expression. It would be the same as d*1, I believe.

Upvotes: 36

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