JavaScript - How to Check if a variable is an Object

Learn, how to find out if a variable is a object or not in JavaScript with the help of examples.

Using typeof operator

To check if a given variable is a object, we can use the typeof operator in JavaScript.

The typeof operator returns the type of a given variable in string format.

Here is an example:

let user = {name: 'gowtham'};

if (typeof user === 'object') {
    console.log('variable is a object');
} else {
    console.log('variable is not a object');
}

Output:

"variable is a object"

In the above example, we have used if conditional with a typeof operator to check if a user variable is a object or not.

But their is a problem with the above solution. Because, the typeof operator also returns object. If a variable is null or array. So, we need to check those edge cases by creating a isObject function.

function isObject(variable){
   return (typeof variable === "object" && variable != null && !Array.isArray(variable));
}

In the above code, the isObject() function contains three conditions:

• First condition checks if a given variable is a object or not.

• Second condition checks if a given variable doesn’t contains any null value.

• Third condition checks if a given variable is not an array.

Now, our isObject() function returns true if a variable is a object, else it returns false.

Usage of isObject() function:

let user = {name: 'gowtham'};

if (isObject(user)) {
    console.log('variable is a object');
} else {
    console.log('variable is not a object');
}

Additional resources

You can also checkout the related tutorials :

• Check if a variable is a Number in JavaScript

• How to check if string is a URL in JavaScript

• Check if an Object property is undefined in JavaScript