PRDV401: Introduction to JavaScript I

A relational operator compares its operands and returns a Boolean value based on whether the comparison is true.

in

The in operator returns true if the specified property is in the specified object. The syntax is:

propNameOrNumber in objectName

where propNameOrNumber is a string, numeric, or symbol expression representing a property name or array index, and objectName is the name of an object.

The following examples show some uses of the in operator.

// Arrays
var trees = ['redwood', 'bay', 'cedar', 'oak', 'maple'];
0 in trees;        // returns true
3 in trees;        // returns true
6 in trees;        // returns false
'bay' in trees;    // returns false (you must specify the index number,
                   // not the value at that index)
'length' in trees; // returns true (length is an Array property)

// built-in objects
'PI' in Math;          // returns true
var myString = new String('coral');
'length' in myString;  // returns true

// Custom objects
var mycar = { make: 'Honda', model: 'Accord', year: 1998 };
'make' in mycar;  // returns true
'model' in mycar; // returns true

instanceof

The instanceof operator returns true if the specified object is of the specified object type. The syntax is:

objectName instanceof objectType

where objectName is the name of the object to compare to objectType, and objectType is an object type, such as Date or Array.

Use instanceof when you need to confirm the type of an object at runtime. For example, when catching exceptions, you can branch to different exception-handling code depending on the type of exception thrown.

For example, the following code uses instanceof to determine whether theDay is a Date object. Because theDay is a Date object, the statements in the ifstatement execute.

var theDay = new Date(1995, 12, 17);
if (theDay instanceof Date) {
  // statements to execute
}