Detecting an undefined object property

Question

What\'s the best way of checking if an object property in JavaScript is undefined?

Answer 1

All the answers are incomplete. This is the right way of knowing that there is a property 'defined as undefined':

var hasUndefinedProperty = function hasUndefinedProperty(obj, prop){
  return ((prop in obj) && (typeof obj[prop] == 'undefined'));
};

Example:

var a = { b : 1, e : null };
a.c = a.d;

hasUndefinedProperty(a, 'b'); // false: b is defined as 1
hasUndefinedProperty(a, 'c'); // true: c is defined as undefined
hasUndefinedProperty(a, 'd'); // false: d is undefined
hasUndefinedProperty(a, 'e'); // false: e is defined as null

// And now...
delete a.c ;
hasUndefinedProperty(a, 'c'); // false: c is undefined

Too bad that this been the right answer and is buried in wrong answers >_<

So, for anyone who pass by, I will give you undefined's for free!!

var undefined ; undefined ; // undefined
({}).a ;                    // undefined
[].a ;                      // undefined
''.a ;                      // undefined
(function(){}()) ;          // undefined
void(0) ;                   // undefined
eval() ;                    // undefined
1..a ;                      // undefined
/a/.a ;                     // undefined
(true).a ;                  // undefined