Core JavaScript 1.5 Reference:Global Objects:Object:valueOf
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[edit] Summary
Returns the primitive value of the specified object
| Method of Object | |
| Implemented in: | JavaScript 1.1 |
| ECMA Version: | ECMA-262 |
[edit] Syntax
valueOf()
[edit] Parameters
None.
[edit] Description
JavaScript calls the valueOf method to convert an object to a primitive value. You rarely need to invoke the valueOf method yourself; JavaScript automatically invokes it when encountering an object where a primitive value is expected.
By default, the valueOf method is inherited by every object descended from Object. Every built-in core object overrides this method to return an appropriate value. If an object has no primitive value, valueOf returns the object itself, which is displayed as:
[object Object]
You can use valueOf within your own code to convert a built-in object into a primitive value. When you create a custom object, you can override Object.valueOf to call a custom method instead of the default Object method.
[edit] Overriding valueOf for custom objects
You can create a function to be called in place of the default valueOf method. Your function must take no arguments.
Suppose you have an object type myNumberType and you want to create a valueOf method for it. The following code assigns a user-defined function to the object's valueOf method:
myNumberType.prototype.valueOf = new Function(functionText)
With the preceding code in place, any time an object of type myNumberType is used in a context where it is to be represented as a primitive value, JavaScript automatically calls the function defined in the preceding code.
An object's valueOf method is usually invoked by JavaScript, but you can invoke it yourself as follows:
myNumber.valueOf()
[edit] Note
Objects in string contexts convert via the toString method, which is different from String objects converting to string primitives using valueOf. All string objects have a string conversion, if only "[object type]". But many objects do not convert to number, boolean, or function.