Subtraction (-)

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The subtraction (-) operator subtracts the two operands, producing their difference.

Try it

console.log(5 - 3);
// Expected output: 2

console.log(3.5 - 5);
// Expected output: -1.5

console.log(5 - "hello");
// Expected output: NaN

console.log(5 - true);
// Expected output: 4

Syntax

js
x - y

Description

The - operator is overloaded for two types of operands: number and BigInt. It first coerces both operands to numeric values and tests the types of them. It performs BigInt subtraction if both operands become BigInts; otherwise, it performs number subtraction. A TypeError is thrown if one operand becomes a BigInt but the other becomes a number.

Examples

Subtraction using numbers

js
5 - 3; // 2
3 - 5; // -2

Other non-BigInt values are coerced to numbers:

js
"foo" - 3; // NaN; "foo" is converted to the number NaN
5 - "3"; // 2; "3" is converted to the number 3

Subtraction using BigInts

js
2n - 1n; // 1n

You cannot mix BigInt and number operands in subtraction.

js
2n - 1; // TypeError: Cannot mix BigInt and other types, use explicit conversions
2 - 1n; // TypeError: Cannot mix BigInt and other types, use explicit conversions

To do subtraction with a BigInt and a non-BigInt, convert either operand:

js
2n - BigInt(1); // 1n
Number(2n) - 1; // 1

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2025 Language Specification
# sec-subtraction-operator-minus

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobileserver
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Deno
Node.js
Subtraction (-)

Legend

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Full support
Full support

See also