BigInt

A BigInt value, also sometimes just called a BigInt, is a bigint primitive, created by appending n to the end of an integer literal, or by calling the BigInt() function (without the new operator) and giving it an integer value or string value.

const previouslyMaxSafeInteger = 9007199254740991n;

const alsoHuge = BigInt(9007199254740991);
// 9007199254740991n

const hugeString = BigInt("9007199254740991");
// 9007199254740991n

const hugeHex = BigInt("0x1fffffffffffff");
// 9007199254740991n

const hugeOctal = BigInt("0o377777777777777777");
// 9007199254740991n

const hugeBin = BigInt(
  "0b11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111",
);
// 9007199254740991n

BigInt values are similar to Number values in some ways, but also differ in a few key matters: A BigInt value cannot be used with methods in the built-in Math object and cannot be mixed with a Number value in operations; they must be coerced to the same type. Be careful coercing values back and forth, however, as the precision of a BigInt value may be lost when it is coerced to a Number value.

When tested against typeof, a BigInt value (bigint primitive) will give "bigint":

typeof 1n === "bigint"; // true
typeof BigInt("1") === "bigint"; // true

A BigInt value can also be wrapped in an Object:

typeof Object(1n) === "object"; // true

Most operators support BigInts, however most do not permit operands to be of mixed types — both operands must be BigInt or neither:

• Arithmetic operators: +, -, *, /, %, **
• Bitwise operators: >>, <<, &, |, ^, ~
• Unary negation (-)
• Increment/decrement: ++, --

The boolean-returning operators allow mixing numbers and BigInts as operands:

• Relational operators and equality operators: >, <, >=, <=, ==, !=, ===, !==
• Logical operators only rely on the truthiness of operands

A couple of operators do not support BigInt at all:

• Unary plus (+) cannot be supported due to conflicting usage in asm.js, so it has been left out in order to not break asm.js.
• Unsigned right shift (>>>) is the only bitwise operator that's unsupported, as every BigInt value is signed.

Special cases:

• Addition (+) involving a string and a BigInt returns a string.
• Division (/) truncates fractional components towards zero, since BigInt is unable to represent fractional quantities.

const previousMaxSafe = BigInt(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER); // 9007199254740991n
const maxPlusOne = previousMaxSafe + 1n; // 9007199254740992n
const theFuture = previousMaxSafe + 2n; // 9007199254740993n, this works now!
const prod = previousMaxSafe * 2n; // 18014398509481982n
const diff = prod - 10n; // 18014398509481972n
const mod = prod % 10n; // 2n
const bigN = 2n ** 54n; // 18014398509481984n
bigN * -1n; // -18014398509481984n
const expected = 4n / 2n; // 2n
const truncated = 5n / 2n; // 2n, not 2.5n

A BigInt value is not strictly equal to a Number value, but it is loosely so:

0n === 0; // false
0n == 0; // true

A Number value and a BigInt value may be compared as usual:

1n < 2; // true
2n > 1; // true
2 > 2; // false
2n > 2; // false
2n >= 2; // true

BigInt values and Number values may be mixed in arrays and sorted:

const mixed = [4n, 6, -12n, 10, 4, 0, 0n];
// [4n, 6, -12n, 10, 4, 0, 0n]

mixed.sort(); // default sorting behavior
// [ -12n, 0, 0n, 10, 4n, 4, 6 ]

mixed.sort((a, b) => a - b);
// won't work since subtraction will not work with mixed types
// TypeError: can't convert BigInt value to Number value

// sort with an appropriate numeric comparator
mixed.sort((a, b) => (a < b ? -1 : a > b ? 1 : 0));
// [ -12n, 0, 0n, 4n, 4, 6, 10 ]

Note that comparisons with Object-wrapped BigInt values act as with other objects, only indicating equality when the same object instance is compared:

Object(0n) === 0n; // false
Object(0n) === Object(0n); // false

const o = Object(0n);
o === o; // true

Because coercing between Number values and BigInt values can lead to loss of precision, the following are recommended:

• Only use a BigInt value when values greater than 2⁵³ are reasonably expected.
• Don't coerce between BigInt values and Number values.

A BigInt value follows the same conversion rules as Numbers when:

• it is converted to a Boolean: via the Boolean function;
• when used with logical operators ||, &&, and !; or
• within a conditional test like an if statement.

Namely, only 0n is falsy; everything else is truthy.

if (0n) {
  console.log("Hello from the if!");
} else {
  console.log("Hello from the else!");
}
// "Hello from the else!"

0n || 12n; // 12n
0n && 12n; // 0n
Boolean(0n); // false
Boolean(12n); // true
!12n; // false
!0n; // true

The operations supported on BigInt values are not constant-time and are thus open to timing attacks. JavaScript BigInts therefore could be dangerous for use in cryptography without mitigating factors. As a very generic example, an attacker could measure the time difference between 101n ** 65537n and 17n ** 9999n, and deduce the magnitude of secrets, such as private keys, based on the time elapsed. If you still have to use BigInts, take a look at the Timing attack FAQ for general advice regarding the issue.

Using JSON.stringify() with any BigInt value will raise a TypeError, as BigInt values aren't serialized in JSON by default. However, JSON.stringify() specifically leaves a backdoor for BigInt values: it would try to call the BigInt's toJSON() method. (It doesn't do so for any other primitive values.) Therefore, you can implement your own toJSON() method (which is one of the few cases where patching built-in objects is not explicitly discouraged):

BigInt.prototype.toJSON = function () {
  return { $bigint: this.toString() };
};

Instead of throwing, JSON.stringify() now produces a string like this:

console.log(JSON.stringify({ a: 1n }));
// {"a":{"$bigint":"1"}}

If you do not wish to patch BigInt.prototype, you can use the replacer parameter of JSON.stringify to serialize BigInt values:

const replacer = (key, value) =>
  typeof value === "bigint" ? { $bigint: value.toString() } : value;

const data = {
  number: 1,
  big: 18014398509481982n,
};
const stringified = JSON.stringify(data, replacer);

console.log(stringified);
// {"number":1,"big":{"$bigint":"18014398509481982"}}

You can then use the reviver parameter of JSON.parse to handle them:

const reviver = (key, value) =>
  value !== null &&
  typeof value === "object" &&
  "$bigint" in value &&
  typeof value.$bigint === "string"
    ? BigInt(value.$bigint)
    : value;

const payload = '{"number":1,"big":{"$bigint":"18014398509481982"}}';
const parsed = JSON.parse(payload, reviver);

console.log(parsed);
// { number: 1, big: 18014398509481982n }

In fact, JSON allows number literals that are arbitrarily long; they just cannot be parsed to full precision in JavaScript. If you are communicating with another program in a language that supports longer integers (such as 64-bit integers), and you want to transmit the BigInt as a JSON number instead of a JSON string, see Lossless number serialization.

Many built-in operations that expect BigInts first coerce their arguments to BigInts. The operation can be summarized as follows:

• BigInts are returned as-is.
• undefined and null throw a TypeError.
• true turns into 1n; false turns into 0n.
• Strings are converted by parsing them as if they contain an integer literal. Any parsing failure results in a SyntaxError. The syntax is a subset of string numeric literals, where decimal points or exponent indicators are not allowed.
• Numbers throw a TypeError to prevent unintended implicit coercion causing loss of precision.
• Symbols throw a TypeError.
• Objects are first converted to a primitive by calling their [Symbol.toPrimitive]() (with "number" as hint), valueOf(), and toString() methods, in that order. The resulting primitive is then converted to a BigInt.

The best way to achieve nearly the same effect in JavaScript is through the BigInt() function: BigInt(x) uses the same algorithm to convert x, except that Numbers don't throw a TypeError, but are converted to BigInts if they are integers.

Note that built-in operations expecting BigInts often truncate the BigInt to a fixed width after coercion. This includes BigInt.asIntN(), BigInt.asUintN(), and methods of BigInt64Array and BigUint64Array.

BigInt()

Returns primitive values of type BigInt. Throws an error when called with new.

BigInt.asIntN()

Clamps a BigInt value to a signed integer value, and returns that value.

BigInt.asUintN()

Clamps a BigInt value to an unsigned integer value, and returns that value.

These properties are defined on BigInt.prototype and shared by all BigInt instances.

BigInt.prototype.constructor

The constructor function that created the instance object. For BigInt instances, the initial value is the BigInt constructor.

BigInt.prototype[Symbol.toStringTag]

The initial value of the [Symbol.toStringTag] property is the string "BigInt". This property is used in Object.prototype.toString(). However, because BigInt also has its own toString() method, this property is not used unless you call Object.prototype.toString.call() with a BigInt as thisArg.

BigInt.prototype.toLocaleString()

Returns a string with a language-sensitive representation of this BigInt value. Overrides the Object.prototype.toLocaleString() method.

BigInt.prototype.toString()

Returns a string representing this BigInt value in the specified radix (base). Overrides the Object.prototype.toString() method.

BigInt.prototype.valueOf()

Returns this BigInt value. Overrides the Object.prototype.valueOf() method.

• Number
• Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER