Function.name

Summary

The function.name property returns the name of the function.

Description

The name property returns the name of a function, or an empty string for anonymous functions:

function doSomething() { }

alert(doSomething.name); // alerts "doSomething"

Functions created with the syntax new Function(...) or just Function(...) have their name property set to an empty string. In the following examples anonymous functions are created, so name returns an empty string:

var f = function() { };
var object = {
  someMethod: function() {}
};

alert(f.name == ""); // true
alert(object.someMethod.name == ""); // also true

You can define a function with a name in a function expression:

var object = {
  someMethod: function object_someMethod() {}
};
alert(object.someMethod.name); // alerts "object_someMethod"

try { object_someMethod } catch(e) { alert(e); }
// ReferenceError: object_someMethod is not defined

You cannot change the name of a function, this property is read-only:

var object = {
  // anonymous
  someMethod: function() { }
};

object.someMethod.name = "someMethod";
alert(object.someMethod.name); // empty string, someMethod is anonymous

Examples

You can use obj.constructor.name to check the "class" of an object:

function a() { }

var b = new a();

alert(b.constructor.name); //Alerts "a"

Specifications

Browser compatibility