4.2. Type Conversion

Sometimes it is necessary to convert values from one type to another. A common example is when a program receives input from a user or a file. In this situation, numeric data may be passed to the program as strings.

JavaScript provides a few simple functions that will allow us to convert values to different data types. The functions Number and String will (attempt to) convert their arguments into types number and string, respectively. We call these type conversion functions.

The Number function can take a string and turn it into an integer. Let us see this in action:

Example

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console.log(Number("2345"));
console.log(typeof Number("2345"))
console.log(Number(17));

Console Output

2345
number
17

What happens if we attempt to convert a string to a number, and the string doesn't directly represent a number?

Example

console.log(Number("23bottles"));

Console Output

NaN

This example shows that a string has to be a syntactically legal number for conversion to go as expected. Examples of such strings are "34" or "-2.5". If the value cannot be cleanly converted to a number then NaN will be returned, which stands for "not a number."

Note

NaN is a special value in JavaScript that represents that state of not being a number. We will learn more about NaN and other special values in a later chapter.

The type conversion function String turns its argument into a string. Remember that when we print a string, the quotes may be removed. However, if we print the type, we can see that it is definitely 'string'.

Example

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console.log(String(17));
console.log(String(123.45));
console.log(typeof String(123.45));

Console Output

17
123.45
string

4.2.1. Check Your Understanding

Question

Which of the following strings result in NaN when passed to Number? (Feel free to try running each of the conversions.)

  1. '3'

  2. 'three'

  3. '3 3'

  4. '33'