javascripttypeof

How can I tell if it is an object or an array?

I want to know the type of the variable put in the function. So, I used typeof and like this:

randomFunctionName: function(obj){
    switch(typeof obj){
        case "object":
           //Something
        case "text":
            //Something else
    }
}

But the problem is, I can't tell if obj is an array or an object, since

typeof [] === "object"  //true
typeof {} === "object"  //true

So, how I can I separate them? Is there any difference between them?

Solution

  • An array is an object. You can test if an object is an array as follows:

    Object.prototype.toString.apply(value) === '[object Array]';

    You can wrap this up into a function as follows:

    function isArray(a)
{
    return Object.prototype.toString.apply(a) === '[object Array]';
}