Get the name of an object's type

Question

Is there a JavaScript equivalent of Java\'s class.getName()?

Answer 1

You can use the instanceof operator to see if an object is an instance of another, but since there are no classes, you can't get a class name.

Answer 2

Jason Bunting's answer gave me enough of a clue to find what I needed:

<<Object instance>>.constructor.name

So, for example, in the following piece of code:

function MyObject() {}
var myInstance = new MyObject();

myInstance.constructor.name would return "MyObject".

Answer 3

Using Object.prototype.toString

It turns out, as this post details, you can use Object.prototype.toString - the low level and generic implementation of toString - to get the type for all built-in types

Object.prototype.toString.call('abc') // [object String]
Object.prototype.toString.call(/abc/) // [object RegExp]
Object.prototype.toString.call([1,2,3]) // [object Array]

One could write a short helper function such as

function type(obj){
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(obj]).match(/\s\w+/)[0].trim()
}

return [object String] as String
return [object Number] as Number
return [object Object] as Object
return [object Undefined] as Undefined
return [object Function] as Function

Answer 4

Say you have var obj;

If you just want the name of obj's type, like "Object", "Array", or "String", you can use this:

Object.prototype.toString.call(obj).split(' ')[1].replace(']', '');

Answer 5

You should use somevar.constructor.name like a:

    
    const getVariableType = a => a.constructor.name.toLowerCase();

    const d = new Date();
    const res1 = getVariableType(d); // 'date'
    const num = 5;
    const res2 = getVariableType(num); // 'number'
    const fn = () => {};
    const res3 = getVariableType(fn); // 'function'

    console.log(res1); // 'date'
    console.log(res2); // 'number'
    console.log(res3); // 'function'

Answer 6

I was actually looking for a similar thing and came across this question. Here is how I get types: jsfiddle

var TypeOf = function ( thing ) {

    var typeOfThing = typeof thing;

    if ( 'object' === typeOfThing ) {

        typeOfThing = Object.prototype.toString.call( thing );

        if ( '[object Object]' === typeOfThing ) {

            if ( thing.constructor.name ) {
                return thing.constructor.name;
            } 

            else if ( '[' === thing.constructor.toString().charAt(0) ) {
                typeOfThing = typeOfThing.substring( 8,typeOfThing.length - 1 );
            } 

            else {

                typeOfThing = thing.constructor.toString().match( /function\s*(\w+)/ );

                if ( typeOfThing ) { 
                    return typeOfThing[1];
                } 

                else {
                    return 'Function';
                }
            }
        } 

        else {
            typeOfThing = typeOfThing.substring( 8,typeOfThing.length - 1 );
        }
    }

    return typeOfThing.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + typeOfThing.slice(1);
}