How to check if a property exists in a JavaScript object

Last updated: October 13, 2022.

Before accessing an object property, it is often a good idea to check whether it exists first so that result-handling can kick in if the result is negative.

Since every property in an object must have its own unique key, you can check for the existence of a property key value.

For this, a method exists on JavaScript objects called hasOwnProperty(). It accepts a key value and when called searches the properties of the object on which it is called for the key value entered, returning Boolean true or false:

const obj = {
    singer: "Simon",
    singer2: "Garfunkel",
};

obj.hasOwnProperty('singer'); // true
obj.hasOwnProperty('singer2'); // true
obj.hasOwnProperty('singer3'); // false
// Checks main object


console.log(obj.hasOwnProperty('toString')); // false
console.log(obj.hasOwnProperty('hasOwnProperty')); // false
// But does not check properties on its prototype

But, as you can see in the example, hasOwnProperty does not check an object's prototype for the existence of a property.

So if you want to check the main object and its prototype, you need to use another approach.

Thankfully, for this you can use the in operator, using property in object syntax:

const obj = {
    singer: "Simon",
    singer2: "Garfunkel",
};

'singer' in obj; // true
'singer2' in obj; // true
'singer3' in obj; // false
// Checks main object...

'toString' in obj; // true
'hasOwnProperty' in obj; // true
// ...and methods on its prototype!

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