JSON.stringify(null) returns the string null.
JSON.stringify(undefined) returns the value undefined. Shouldn't it return the string undefined?
Parsing the value undefined or the string undefined gives a SyntaxError.
Could someone explain why JSON chokes on undefined and how to get around it when stringifying / parsing values?
undefined is not valid JSON, so the function is working properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON#Data_types.2C_syntax_and_example
if(JSON.stringify(input) === undefined) {
// error handle
}
or
if(input === undefined) {
// error handle
}
else {
JSON.stringify(input);
}
Sorry. Life is hard sometimes. This is pretty much what you have to do.
The reason for this is that null is caused by a variable that doesn't have a value, so when converted to JSON it gives you JSON that doesn't have a value, undefined means it doesn't exist at all, so you can't create a JSON object of something that doesn't exist. Just check
if(typeof myvar === 'undefined')
before you run it and handle the error gracefully in the code.
Generally try to avoid undefined in your JS they can to weird things all over the place, and are NOT the same as null and are usually handled differently.
window.x = undefined; console.log(window.x); console.log(x in window); // undefined, true
undefined = "hello". Got to love JavaScriptundefined is not writable, so that would leave the value of undefined unchanged, but it's true that in old versions that would overwrite the value of undefined.
JSON.stringify( myvar ? myvar : "*ERROR*" )JSON.stringify( myvar || "*ERROR*" )undefinedisn't recognized by JSON.JSON.stringify({ foo: 'bar', baz: undefined }) === '{"foo":"bar"}'.undefinedis also how you skip values with thereplacer.JSON.stringify(undefined)it the same as callingJSON.stringify()(i.e. without any arguments).