Object.prototype.constructor

Summary

Returns a reference to the Object function that created the instance's prototype. Note that the value of this property is a reference to the function itself, not a string containing the function's name. The value is only read-only for primitive values such as 1, true and "test".

Description

All objects inherit a constructor property from their prototype:

var o = {};
o.constructor === Object; // true

var a = [];
a.constructor === Array; // true

var n = new Number(3);
n.constructor === Number; // true

Examples

Example: Displaying the constructor of an object

The following example creates a prototype, Tree, and an object of that type, theTree. The example then displays the constructor property for the object theTree.

function Tree(name) {
  this.name = name;
}

var theTree = new Tree('Redwood');
console.log('theTree.constructor is ' + theTree.constructor);

This example displays the following output:

theTree.constructor is function Tree(name) {
  this.name = name;
}

Example: Changing the constructor of an object

The following example shows how to modify constructor value of generic objects. Only true, 1 and "test" will not be affected as they have read-only native constructors. This example shows that it is not always safe to rely on the constructor property of an object.

function Type () {}

var types = [
  new Array(),
  [],
  new Boolean(),
  true,             // remains unchanged
  new Date(),
  new Error(),
  new Function(),
  function () {},
  Math,
  new Number(),
  1,                // remains unchanged
  new Object(),
  {},
  new RegExp(),
  /(?:)/,
  new String(),
  'test'            // remains unchanged
];

for (var i = 0; i < types.length; i++) {
  types[i].constructor = Type;
  types[i] = [types[i].constructor, types[i] instanceof Type, types[i].toString()];
}

console.log(types.join('\n'));

This example displays the following output:

function Type() {},false,
function Type() {},false,
function Type() {},false,false
function Boolean() {
    [native code]
},false,true
function Type() {},false,Mon Sep 01 2014 16:03:49 GMT+0600
function Type() {},false,Error
function Type() {},false,function anonymous() {

}
function Type() {},false,function () {}
function Type() {},false,[object Math]
function Type() {},false,0
function Number() {
    [native code]
},false,1
function Type() {},false,[object Object]
function Type() {},false,[object Object]
function Type() {},false,/(?:)/
function Type() {},false,/(?:)/
function Type() {},false,
function String() {
    [native code]
},false,test

Specifications

Browser compatibility