JavaScript % (modulo) gives a negative result for negative numbers

Question

According to Google Calculator (-13) % 64 is 51.

According to Javascript (see this JSBin) it is -13.

How do I fix this

Answer 1

There is a NPM package that will do the work for you. You can install it with the following command.

npm install just-modulo --save

Usage copied from the README

import modulo from 'just-modulo';

modulo(7, 5); // 2
modulo(17, 23); // 17
modulo(16.2, 3.8); // 17
modulo(5.8, 3.4); //2.4
modulo(4, 0); // 4
modulo(-7, 5); // 3
modulo(-2, 15); // 13
modulo(-5.8, 3.4); // 1
modulo(12, -1); // NaN
modulo(-3, -8); // NaN
modulo(12, 'apple'); // NaN
modulo('bee', 9); // NaN
modulo(null, undefined); // NaN

GitHub repository can be found via the following link:

https://github.com/angus-c/just/tree/master/packages/number-modulo

Answer 2

Though it isn't behaving as you expected, it doesn't mean that JavaScript is not 'behaving'. It is a choice JavaScript made for its modulo calculation. Because, by definition either answer makes sense.

See this from Wikipedia. You can see on the right how different languages chose the result's sign.

Answer 3

If x is an integer and n is a power of 2, you can use x & (n - 1) instead of x % n.

> -13 & (64 - 1)
51 

Answer 4

So it seems that if you're trying to mod around degrees (so that if you have -50 degrees - 200 degrees), you'd want to use something like:

function modrad(m) {
    return ((((180+m) % 360) + 360) % 360)-180;
}

Answer 5

I deal with négative a and negative n too

 //best perf, hard to read
   function modul3(a,n){
        r = a/n | 0 ;
        if(a < 0){ 
            r += n < 0 ? 1 : -1
        }
        return a - n * r 
    }
    // shorter code
    function modul(a,n){
        return  a%n + (a < 0 && Math.abs(n)); 
    }

    //beetween perf and small code
    function modul(a,n){
        return a - n * Math[n > 0 ? 'floor' : 'ceil'](a/n); 
    }

Answer 6

Number.prototype.mod = function(n) {
    return ((this%n)+n)%n;
};

Taken from this article: The JavaScript Modulo Bug