The nullish coalescing operator (??) is a logical operator that takes two arguments. It returns the right-hand side operand when its left-hand side operand is null or undefined. otherwise, it returns its left-hand side operand.
leftExpr ?? rightExpr
If leftExpr is not null or undefined, then returns leftExpr
if leftExpr is either null or undefined, then returns rightExpr
In the following code, since email is undefined, the ?? returns the "No Email Selected".
let email
let selecteditem = email ?? "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //No Email Selected
If the email already has a value, it returns the email.
let email=""
let selecteditem = email ?? "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //""
email="0"
selecteditem = email ?? "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) // 0
You can also make use of the logical OR operator. Because null & undefined are falsy values.
let email
let selecteditem = email || "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //No Email Selected
email="mail@example.com"
selecteditem = email || "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //"mail@example.com"
But, if email, has other falsy values like false, 0,-0 , 0n, "", NaN, then the || & ?? produces different outputs.
let email=""
let selecteditem = email || "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //No Email Selected
selecteditem = email ?? "No Email Selected";
console.log(selecteditem) //
We can mimic the ?? using the Ternary Conditional Operator.
let email
let selecteditem = (email != undefined || email != null ) ? email: "No Email Selected"
console.log(selecteditem) //No Email Selected
One of the use cases of the ?? operator is assigning the default value.
We usually use the || to assign a default value. In the following example, we have not given any value to score. Hence it is undefined. Both the || & ?? does not return the score, but prints the message “Please enter your score”
let score;
console.log(score|| "Please enter your score")
//Please enter your score
console.log(score?? "Please enter your score")
//Please enter your score
Now, assume that the user entered his score as 0, which is a valid score. But the || operator still returns the message “Please enter your score”, because 0 is false. But the ?? returns the score correctly.
score=0
console.log(score || "Please enter your score")
//Please enter your score
console.log(score ?? "Please enter your score")
//0
?? like || & && operators, stops evaluating if the left-hand operand is not null/undefined. Hence the right-hand expression is not evaluated.
For Example, the following code evaluates the getNumber and values of a becomes 11.
let a=10
function getNumber() {
a=a+1
return a;
}
let b = ( null ?? getNumber() )
getNumber() not invoked
console.log(a); //11
But, here the ?? returns with the string ‘Hello’ and getNumber() is never invoked. The value of a remains at 10.
let a=10
function getNumber() {
a=a+1
return a;
}
let b = ( "Hello" ?? getNumber() )
//getNumber() is not invoked
console.log(a); //10
Read More
