Symbol.hasInstance
The Symbol.hasInstance
static data property represents the well-known symbol @@hasInstance
. The instanceof
operator looks up this symbol on its right-hand operand for the method used to determine if the constructor object recognizes an object as its instance.
Try it
Value
The well-known symbol @@hasInstance
.
Property attributes of Symbol.hasInstance |
|
---|---|
Writable | no |
Enumerable | no |
Configurable | no |
Description
The instanceof
operator uses the following algorithm to calculate the return value of object instanceof constructor
:
- If
constructor
has a@@hasInstance
method, then call it withobject
as the first argument and return the result, coerced to a boolean. Throw aTypeError
ifconstructor
is not an object, or ifconstructor[@@hasInstance]
is not one ofnull
,undefined
, or a function. - Otherwise, if
constructor
doesn't have a@@hasInstance
method (constructor[@@hasInstance]
isnull
orundefined
), then determine the result using the same algorithm asFunction.prototype[@@hasInstance]
. Throw aTypeError
ifconstructor
is not a function.
Because all functions inherit from Function.prototype
by default, most of the time, the Function.prototype[@@hasInstance]
method specifies the behavior of instanceof
when the right-hand side is a function.
Examples
Custom instanceof behavior
You could implement your custom instanceof
behavior like this, for example:
js
class MyArray {
static [Symbol.hasInstance](instance) {
return Array.isArray(instance);
}
}
console.log([] instanceof MyArray); // true
js
function MyArray() {}
Object.defineProperty(MyArray, Symbol.hasInstance, {
value(instance) {
return Array.isArray(instance);
},
});
console.log([] instanceof MyArray); // true
Checking the instance of an object
Just in the same manner at which you can check if an object is an instance of a class using the instanceof
keyword, we can also use Symbol.hasInstance
for such checks.
js
class Animal {
constructor() {}
}
const cat = new Animal();
console.log(Animal[Symbol.hasInstance](cat)); // true
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-symbol.hasinstance |
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