Why does the comparison ("string" > 0) return false in JavaScript?

Question

Since "string" is a non-empty string, shouldn't it return true? How exactly does this comparison work?

Why do you expect it to be true? – Felix Kling Feb 05 '18 at 08:30 — Felix Kling, Feb 05 '18 at 08:30

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 05 '18 at 04:20

1

When comparing a String to a Number, JavaScript tries to convert the String to a Number to make a logical comparison.

Converting "string" to a Number results in NaN, and NaN > 0 is false.

answered Feb 05 '18 at 04:20

tverghis

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 05 '18 at 04:22

0

This works because of typecasting and the simple fact that NaN > 0 is false.

When applying to the > operator, both operands are cast to Numbers, so that comparison becomes

Number("string") > 0 which is equivalent to NaN > 0 which evaluates to false.

edited Feb 05 '18 at 04:22

enhzflep

answered Feb 05 '18 at 04:19

Ayush Gupta

2 Answers2