The inequality operator (!=) checks whether its two operands are not equal, returning a Boolean result. Unlike the strict inequality operator, it attempts to convert and compare operands that are of different types.
Inequality (!=)
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Syntax
x != y
Description
The inequality operator checks whether its operands are not equal. It is the negation of the equality operator so the following two lines will always give the same result:
x != y !(x == y)
For details of the comparison algorithm, see the page for the equality operator.
Like the equality operator, the inequality operator will attempt to convert and compare operands of different types:
3 != "3"; // false
To prevent this, and require that different types are considered to be different, use the strict inequality operator instead:
3 !== "3"; // true
Examples
Comparison with no type conversion
1 != 2; // true "hello" != "hola"; // true 1 != 1; // false "hello" != "hello"; // false
Comparison with type conversion
"1" != 1; // false 1 != "1"; // false 0 != false; // false 0 != null; // true 0 != undefined; // true 0 != !!null; // false, look at Logical NOT operator 0 != !!undefined; // false, look at Logical NOT operator null != undefined; // false const number1 = new Number(3); const number2 = new Number(3); number1 != 3; // false number1 != number2; // true
Comparison of objects
const object1 = {"key": "value"} const object2 = {"key": "value"}; object1 != object2 // true object2 != object2 // false
Specifications
Browser compatibility
| Desktop | Mobile | Server | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari | WebView Android | Chrome Android | Firefox for Android | Opera Android | Safari on IOS | Samsung Internet | Deno | Node.js | |
Inequality |
1
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12
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
18
|
4
|
10.1
|
1
|
1.0
|
1.0
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0.10.0
|
See also
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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Inequality
