How do you check if a variable is an array in JavaScript?

I noticed someone mentioned jQuery, but I didn't know there was an isArray() function. It turns out it was added in version 1.3.

jQuery implements it as Peter suggests:

isArray: function( obj ) {
    return toString.call(obj) === "[object Array]";
},

Having put a lot of faith in jQuery already (especially their techniques for cross-browser compatibility) I will either upgrade to version 1.3 and use their function (providing that upgrading doesn’t cause too many problems) or use this suggested method directly in my code.

Many thanks for the suggestions.

There are multiple solutions with all their on quirks. This page gives a good overview. One possible solution is:

function isArray(o) {
  return Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Array]'; 
}

Via Crockford:

function typeOf(value) {
    var s = typeof value;
    if (s === 'object') {
        if (value) {
            if (value instanceof Array) {
                s = 'array';
            }
        } else {
            s = 'null';
        }
    }
    return s;
}

The main failing Crockford mentions is an inability to correctly determine arrays that were created in a different context, e.g., window. That page has a much more sophisticated version if this is insufficient.

This is an old question but having the same problem i found a very elegant solution that i want to share.

Adding a prototype to Array makes it very simple

Array.prototype.isArray = true;

Now once if you have an object you want to test to see if its an array all you need is to check for the new property

var box = doSomething();

if (box.isArray) {
    // do something
}

isArray is only available if its an array

I personally like Peter's suggestion: http://stackoverflow.com/a/767499/414784 (for ECMAScript 3. For ECMAScript 5, use Array.isArray())

Comments on the post indicate, however, that if toString() is changed at all, that way of checking an array will fail. If you really want to be specific and make sure toString() has not been changed, and there are no problems with the objects class attribute ([object Array] is the class attribute of an object that is an array), then I recommend doing something like this:

//see if toString returns proper class attributes of objects that are arrays
//returns -1 if it fails test
//returns true if it passes test and it's an array
//returns false if it passes test and it's not an array
function is_array(o)
{
    // make sure an array has a class attribute of [object Array]
    var check_class = Object.prototype.toString.call([]);
    if(check_class === '[object Array]')
    {
        // test passed, now check
        return Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Array]';
    }
    else
    {
        // may want to change return value to something more desirable
        return -1; 
    }
}

Note that in JavaScript The Definitive Guide 6th edition, 7.10, it says Array.isArray() is implemented using Object.prototype.toString.call() in ECMAScript 5. Also note that if you're going to worry about toString()'s implementation changing, you should also worry about every other built in method changing too. Why use push()? Someone can change it! Such an approach is silly. The above check is an offered solution to those worried about toString() changing, but I believe the check is unnecessary.

When I posted this question the version of JQuery that I was using didn't include an isArray function. If it had have I would have probably just used it trusting that implementation to be the best browser independant way to perform this particular type check.

Since JQuery now does offer this function, I would always use it...

$.isArray(obj);

(as of version 1.6.2) It is still implemented using comparisons on strings in the form

toString.call(obj) === "[object Array]"

I was using this line of code:

if (variable.push) {
   // variable is array, since AMAIK only arrays have push() method.
}

If you're only dealing with EcmaScript 5 and above then you can use the built in Array.isArray function

e.g.,

Array.isArray([])    // true
Array.isArray("foo") // false
Array.isArray({})    // false

In modern browsers you can do

Array.isArray(obj)

(Supported by Chrome 5, Firefox 4.0, IE 9, Opera 10.5 and Safari 5)

For backward compatibility you can add the following

# only implement if no native implementation is available
if (typeof Array.isArray === 'undefined') {
  Array.isArray = function(obj) {
    return Object.toString.call(obj) === '[object Array]';
  }
};

If you use jQuery you can use jQuery.isArray(obj) or $.isArray(obj). If you use underscore you can use _.isArray(obj)

If you don't need to detect arrays created in different frames you can also just use instanceof

obj instanceof Array

Note: the arguments keyword that can be used to access the argument of a function isn't an Array, even though it (usually) behaves like one:

var func = function() {
  console.log(arguments)        // [1, 2, 3]
  console.log(arguments.length) // 3
  console.log(Array.isArray(arguments)) // false !!!
  console.log(arguments.slice)  // undefined (Array.prototype methods not available)
  console.log([3,4,5].slice)    // function slice() { [native code] } 
}
func(1, 2, 3)

code referred from https://github.com/miksago/Evan.js/blob/master/src/evan.js

  var isArray = Array.isArray || function(obj) {
    return !!(obj && obj.concat && obj.unshift && !obj.callee);};

Thought I would add another option for those who might already be using the Underscore.js library in their script. Underscore.js has an isArray() function (see http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#isArray).

_.isArray(object) 

Returns true if object is an Array.

In Crockford's JavaScript The Good Parts, there is a function to check if the given argument is an array:

var is_array = function (value) {
    return value &&
        typeof value === 'object' &&
        typeof value.length === 'number' &&
        typeof value.splice === 'function' &&
        !(value.propertyIsEnumerable('length'));
};

He explains:

First, we ask if the value is truthy. We do this to reject null and other falsy values. Second, we ask if the typeof value is 'object'. This will be true for objects, arrays, and (weirdly) null. Third, we ask if the value has a length property that is a number. This will always be true for arrays, but usually not for objects. Fourth, we ask if the value contains a splice method. This again will be true for all arrays. Finally, we ask if the length property is enumerable (will length be produced by a for in loop?). That will be false for all arrays. This is the most reliable test for arrayness that I have found. It is unfortunate that it is so complicated.

For those who code-golf, an unreliable test with fewest characters:

function isArray(a) {
  return a.map;
}

This is commonly used when traversing/flattening a hierarchy:

function golf(a) {
  return a.map?[].concat.apply([],a.map(golf)):a;
}

input: [1,2,[3,4,[5],6],[7,[8,[9]]]]
output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Since the .length property is special for arrays in javascript you can simply say

obj.length === +obj.length // true if obj is an array

Underscorejs and several other libraries use this short and simple trick.

I liked the Brian answer:

function is_array(o){
    // make sure an array has a class attribute of [object Array]
    var check_class = Object.prototype.toString.call([]);
    if(check_class === '[object Array]')    {
        // test passed, now check
        return Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Array]';
    } else{
        // may want to change return value to something more desirable
        return -1; 
    }
}

but you could just do like this:

return Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === Object.prototype.toString.call([]);

function isArray(x){
    return ((x != null) && (typeof x.push != "undefined"));
}

If you are using Angular, you can use the angular.isArray() function

var myArray = [];
angular.isArray(myArray); // returns true

var myObj = {};
angular.isArray(myObj); //returns false

http://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/function/angular.isArray

A better solution, would be to test for methods you will need to be using. Using the in keyword. That way, if the you later define an array-like object you can still use the same function on it. For example, the only method this function needs to be implemented to treat the argument as an array is map:

function print(object) {
  if ('map' in object) {         // If object implements map treat it as an array
    object.map(function(current) { 
      console.log(current);
    });
  } else {                       // Otherwise, treat it as a string
    console.log(object);
  }
}

This principle is called duck typing, as in "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." It is a widely used principle in many high level languages, notably Python. From their documentation: Python has a strong tradition of duck-typing, where explicit type-checking is never done and code simply calls methods on an object, trusting that those methods will be there and raising an exception if they aren’t. I haven't been able to do any specific tests, but simply checking whether an object has a specific property is surely faster than checking the type at runtime.