What's the type?
typeof
returns [object Object]
for almost everything beyond primitives. This module works around this drawback and returns a more accurate type.
What's new in v2?
-
v2 brings some improvements but also introduces a breaking change by no longer returning its results in lower case.
getType()
now returns values in a case sensitive manner. Using lower case in v1 was meant to be more consistent with the behavior oftypeof
, but it made it impossible to distinguish betweenSomeObject
andsomeobject
.getType({ foo: 'bar' })
now returnsPlainObject
rather thanobject
.getType(function* ())
now returnsGeneratorFunction
instead ofgenerator
.isGeneratorFunction()
replacesisGenerator()
.getType()
now works around the issue withFunction.name
and returns the object type correctly. It will fall back toObject
in the case of failure.
If you're using the
is<Type>()
functions only, your code will keep on working without any changes, except for the now fixedFunction.name
issue [5]. As forgetType()
you'll need to update your code with regards to the case sensitivity [1]. -
v2.1 - v2.4 add more code examples as well as a range of new
is<Type>()
functions; check out the complete list under Usage. -
v2.4 adds reference tables as a look-up for the possible return values of
getType()
.
Installation
npm install whats-the-type
Usage
What's the type comes with one generic detector, getType()
and many is<Type>()
functions:
- isArray()
- isAsyncFunction()
- isBigInt()
- isBlob()
- isBoolean()
- isCallable()
- isCustomElement()
- isDate()
- isElement()
- isElementCollection()
- isEmptyObject()
- isError()
- isFunction()
- isGeneratorFunction()
- isHtmlElement()
- isMap()
- isMathElement()
- isNull()
- isNumber()
- isPlainObject()
- isPromise()
- isRegExp()
- isSet()
- isString()
- isSvgElement()
- isSymbol()
- isUndefined()
- isWeakMap()
- isWeakSet()
Importing
You can import all functionality at once if you want to, but this means importing loads of things you might not need. Sure, treeshaking can make up for this but you can control things as well, the choice is yours.
// Import 'whats-the-type' if you have a bunch of different types to check. This imports all functions at once.
import detector from 'whats-the-type'; // note that whats-the-type is implemented as ESM and not in CJS
// use `getType` if you don't know what type to expect
import getType from 'whats-the-type/getType.js';
// use the `is<Type>` functions if you want to confirm if a value is of a specific type
import isString from 'whats-the-type/isString.js';
import isPlainObject from 'whats-the-type/isPlainObject.js';
getType()
getType()
returns a string such as Null
, Undefined
, Function
, String
, etc. These values mostly correspond to the value's constructor name. In other words, the function doesn't simply return object
for most types but is as precise as possible. If you are reading this at NPM, head over to the full documentation to find reference tables with just about any possible return value.
// the detector always returns a string
getType(['a', 'b', 'c']); // 'Array'
// use the import name (e.g. 'detector') if you imported everything
detector.getType(123); // 'Number'
// here are some more examples but getType() isn't limited to these
const v1 = null;
getType(v1); // "Null"
let v2;
getType(v2); // "Undefined"
const v3 = function() {};
getType(v3); // "Function", use isCallable() to cover async functions and generators as well
const v4 = async function() {};
getType(v4); // "AsyncFunction"
const v5 = function* generator(i) {};
getType(v5); // "GeneratorFunction"
const v6 = { foo: "bar" };
getType(v6); // "PlainObject", not "Object", as you may have expected
const v7 = new Map();
getType(v7); // "Map"
const v8 = new Set();
getType(v8); // "Set"
const v9 = new WeakMap();
getType(v9); // "WeakMap"
const v10 = new WeakSet();
getType(v10); // "WeakSet"
const v11 = new Date();
getType(v11); // "Date"
const v12 = new Error();
getType(v12); // "Error"
const v13 = new Promise(() => {});
getType(v13); // "Promise"
class CustomClass {}
const v14 = new CustomClass();
getType(v14); // "CustomClass"
getType(class CustomClass {}) // "Class", note the difference: CustomClass has not been initiated yet
is<Type>()
is<Type>()
functions return true
if the value is of the specified type. They exist for the most common types and are explained in the docs.
isString('a'); // true
isString(123); // false
isPlainObject({ a: 1 }); // true
isMap(new Map()); // true
isCallable(() => {}); // true
isAsyncFunction(async () => {}); // true
isGeneratorFunction(function* () {}); // true
isWeakMap(new WeakMap()); // true
isWeakSet(new WeakSet()); // true
Resources
- Repository: github.com/draber/whats-the-type
- Package: npmjs.com/package/whats-the-type
- Docs: whats-the-type.netlify.app