Question

156

Why does typeof array with objects return object and not array?

rated 0 times [ 158] [ 2] / answers: 1 / hits: 191306 / 12 Years ago, sun, october 21, 2012, 12:00:00

Possible Duplicate:

JavaScript: Check if object is array?

Why is an array of objects considered an object, and not an array? For example:

$.ajax({

    url: 'http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.json',

    data: { screen_name: 'mick__romney'},

    dataType: 'jsonp',

    success: function(data) {

        console.dir(data); //Array[20]

        alert(typeof data); //Object

    }

});

Fiddle

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hasanb

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4 Years ago

answered 12 Years ago loganl · Accepted Answer

One of the weird behaviour and spec in Javascript is the typeof Array is Object.

You can check if the variable is an array in couple of ways:

var isArr = data instanceof Array;

var isArr = Array.isArray(data);

But the most reliable way is:

isArr = Object.prototype.toString.call(data) == '[object Array]';

Since you tagged your question with jQuery, you can use jQuery isArray function:

var isArr = $.isArray(data);