How to check if an object is an array?

Question

I\'m trying to write a function that either accepts a list of strings, or a single string. If it\'s a string, then I want to convert it to an array with just the one item so

Answer 1

This function will turn almost anything into an array:

function arr(x) {
    if(x === null || x === undefined) {
        return [];
    }
    if(Array.isArray(x)) {
        return x;
    }
    if(isString(x) || isNumber(x)) {
        return [x];
    }
    if(x[Symbol.iterator] !== undefined || x.length !== undefined) {
        return Array.from(x);
    }
    return [x];
}

function isString(x) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(x) === "[object String]"
}

function isNumber(x) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(x) === "[object Number]"
}

It uses some newer browser features so you may want to polyfill this for maximum support.

Examples:

> arr(null);
[]
> arr(undefined)
[]
> arr(3.14)
[ 3.14 ]
> arr(1/0)
[ Infinity ]
> gen = function*() { yield 1; yield 2; yield 3; }
[Function: gen]
> arr(gen())
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
> arr([4,5,6])
[ 4, 5, 6 ]
> arr("foo")
[ 'foo' ]

N.B. strings will be converted into an array with a single element instead of an array of chars. Delete the isString check if you would prefer it the other way around.

I've used Array.isArray here because it's the most robust and also simplest.