Check if object is array?

I would first check if your implementation supports isArray:

if (Array.isArray)
    return Array.isArray(v);

You could also try using the instanceof operator

v instanceof Array

jQuery also offers an $.isArray() method:

var a = ["A", "AA", "AAA"];

if($.isArray(a)) {
  alert("a is an array!");
} else {
  alert("a is not an array!");
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

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.prototype.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

This is the fastest among all methods (all browsers supported):

function isArray(obj){
    return !!obj && Array === obj.constructor;
}

Array.isArray works fast, but it isn't supported by all versions of browsers. So you could make an exception for others and use universal method:

    Utils = {};    
    Utils.isArray = ('isArray' in Array) ? 
        Array.isArray : 
        function (value) {
            return Object.prototype.toString.call(value) === '[object Array]';
        }

Simple function to check this:

function isArray(object)
{
    if (object.constructor === Array) return true;
    else return false;
}

You can try this approach: https://waybackassets.bk21.net/20100424091244/http://www.ajaxdr.com/code/javascript-version-of-phps-is_array-function/

EDIT: also, if you are already using JQuery in your project, you can use its function $.isArray().

As MDN says in here:

use Array.isArray or Object.prototype.toString.call to differentiate regular objects from arrays

Like this:

• Object.prototype.toString.call(arr) === '[object Array]', or

• Array.isArray(arr)

You can check the type of your variable whether it is an array with;

var myArray=[];

if(myArray instanceof Array)
{
....
}

I would make a function to test the type of object you are dealing with...

function whatAmI(me){ return Object.prototype.toString.call(me).split(/\W/)[2]; }

// tests
console.log(
  whatAmI(["aiming","@"]),
  whatAmI({living:4,breathing:4}),
  whatAmI(function(ing){ return ing+" to the global window" }),
  whatAmI("going to do with you?")
);

// output: Array Object Function String

then you can write a simple if statement...

if(whatAmI(myVar) === "Array"){
    // do array stuff
} else { // could also check `if(whatAmI(myVar) === "String")` here to be sure
    // do string stuff
}

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/isArray

Array.isArray = Array.isArray || function (vArg) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(vArg) === "[object Array]";
};

I do this in a very simple way. Works for me. Any drawbacks?

Array.prototype.isArray = true;

a=[]; b={};
a.isArray  // true
b.isArray  // (undefined -> false)

This is my attempt to improve on this answer taking into account the comments:

var isArray = myArray && myArray.constructor === Array;

It gets rid of the if/else, and accounts for the possibility of the array being null or undefined

I have updated the jsperf fiddle with two alternative methods as well as error checking.

It turns out that the method defining a constant value in the 'Object' and 'Array' prototypes is faster than any of the other methods. It is a somewhat surprising result.

/* Initialisation */
Object.prototype.isArray = function() {
  return false;
};
Array.prototype.isArray = function() {
  return true;
};
Object.prototype._isArray = false;
Array.prototype._isArray = true;

var arr = ["1", "2"];
var noarr = "1";

/* Method 1 (function) */
if (arr.isArray()) document.write("arr is an array according to function<br/>");
if (!noarr.isArray()) document.write("noarr is not an array according to function<br/>");
/* Method 2 (value) - **** FASTEST ***** */
if (arr._isArray) document.write("arr is an array according to member value<br/>");
if (!noarr._isArray) document.write("noarr is not an array according to member value<br/>");

These two methods do not work if the variable takes the undefined value, but they do work if you are certain that they have a value. With regards to checking with performance in mind if a value is an array or a single value, the second method looks like a valid fast method. It is slightly faster than 'instanceof' on Chrome, twice as fast as the second best method in Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari (on my machine).

I know, that people are looking for some kind of raw javascript approach. But if you want think less about, take a look here: http://underscorejs.org/#isArray

_.isArray(object) 

Returns true if object is an Array.

(function(){ return _.isArray(arguments); })();
=> false
_.isArray([1,2,3]);
=> true

The best solution I've seen is a cross-browser replacement for typeof. Check Angus Croll's solution here.

The TL;DR version is below, but the article is a great discussion of the issue so you should read it if you have time.

Object.toType = function(obj) {
    return ({}).toString.call(obj).match(/\s([a-z|A-Z]+)/)[1].toLowerCase();
}
// ... and usage:
Object.toType([1,2,3]); //"array" (all browsers)

// or to test...
var shouldBeAnArray = [1,2,3];
if(Object.toType(shouldBeAnArray) === 'array'){/* do stuff */};

Here's my lazy approach:

if (Array.prototype.array_ === undefined) {
  Array.prototype.array_ = true;
}

// ...

var test = [],
    wat = {};

console.log(test.array_ === true); // true
console.log(wat.array_ === true);  // false

I know it's sacrilege to "mess with" the prototype, but it appears to perform significantly better than the recommended toString method.

Note: A pitfall of this approach is that it wont work across iframe boundaries, but for my use case this is not an issue.

If the only two kinds of values that could be passed to this function are a string or an array of strings, keep it simple and use a typeof check for the string possibility:

function someFunc(arg) {
    var arr = (typeof arg == "string") ? [arg] : arg;
}

function isArray(value) {
    if (value) {
        if (typeof value === 'object') {
            return (Object.prototype.toString.call(value) == '[object Array]')
        }
    }
    return false;
}

var ar = ["ff","tt"]
alert(isArray(ar))

There is a nice example in Stoyan Stefanov's book JavaScript Patterns which suppose to handle all possible problems as well as utilize ECMAScript 5 method Array.isArray().

So here it is:

if (typeof Array.isArray === "undefined") {
    Array.isArray = function (arg) {
        return Object.prototype.toString.call(arg) === "[object Array]";
    };
}

By the way, if you are using jQuery, you can use it's method $.isArray()

A simple function for testing if an input value is an array is the following:

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

This works cross browser, and with older browsers. This is pulled from T.J. Crowders' blog post

A = [1,2,3]
console.log(A.map==[].map)

In search for shortest version here is what I got so far.

Note, there is no perfect function that will always detect all possible combinations. It is better to know all abilities and limitations of your tools than expect a magic tool.

This function will turn almost anything into an array:

function arr(x) {
    if(x === null || x === undefined) {
        return [];
    }
    if(Array.isArray(x)) {
        return x;
    }
    if(isString(x) || isNumber(x)) {
        return [x];
    }
    if(x[Symbol.iterator] !== undefined || x.length !== undefined) {
        return Array.from(x);
    }
    return [x];
}

function isString(x) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(x) === "[object String]"
}

function isNumber(x) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(x) === "[object Number]"
}

It uses some newer browser features so you may want to polyfill this for maximum support.

Examples:

> arr(null);
[]
> arr(undefined)
[]
> arr(3.14)
[ 3.14 ]
> arr(1/0)
[ Infinity ]
> gen = function*() { yield 1; yield 2; yield 3; }
[Function: gen]
> arr(gen())
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
> arr([4,5,6])
[ 4, 5, 6 ]
> arr("foo")
[ 'foo' ]

N.B. strings will be converted into an array with a single element instead of an array of chars. Delete the isString check if you would prefer it the other way around.

I've used Array.isArray here because it's the most robust and also simplest.

imagine you have this array:

var arr = [1,2,3,4,5];

Javascript (new and older browsers):

function isArray(arr) {
    return arr.constructor.toString().indexOf("Array") > -1;
}

or

function isArray(arr) {
    return arr instanceof Array;
}

or

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

then call it like this:

isArray(arr);

Javascript (IE9+, Ch5+, FF4+, Saf5+, Opera10.5+)

Array.isArray(arr);

jQuery:

$.isArray(arr);

Angular:

angular.isArray(arr);

Underscore and Lodash:

_.isArray(arr);

I know this is an old question but here is a solution that I came up with and have been using for my projects...

function isArray (o) {
    return typeof o === "object" && o.length !== undefined;
}

isArray({}); // false
isArray(1); // false
isArray("str"); // false
isArray(function(){}); // false

isArray([]); // true

The only pitfall is that it will give a false positive if your object happens to have a length property:

isArray({length:0}); // true

If you are okay with that drawback and know your pure objects won't have that property, it's a clean solution and should be faster than the Object.prototype.toString.call method.

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

This function has been taken from "JS the good parts" book, works perfect for me.

You can try this:

var arr = []; (or) arr = new Array();
var obj = {}; (or) arr = new Object();

arr.constructor.prototype.hasOwnProperty('push') //true

obj.constructor.prototype.hasOwnProperty('push') // false

Since I don't like any Object.prototype-calls, I searched for another solution. Especially because the solutions of ChaosPandion won't always work, and the solution of MidnightTortoise with isArray() doesn't work with arrays coming from the DOM (like getElementsByTagName). And finally I found an easy and cross-browser solution, which probably also would have worked with Netscape 4. ;)

It's just these 4 lines (checking any object h):

function isArray(h){
    if((h.length!=undefined&&h[0]!=undefined)||(h.length===0&&h[0]===undefined)){
        return true;
    }
    else{ return false; }
}

I already tested these arrays (all return true):

1) array=d.getElementsByName('some_element'); //'some_element' can be a real or unreal element
2) array=[];
3) array=[10];
4) array=new Array();
5) array=new Array();
   array.push("whatever");

Can anybody confirm that this works for all cases? Or does anybody find a case where my solution don't work?

You can use this function to get data type.

var myAr  = [1,2];

checkType(myAr);

function checkType(data){
  if(typeof data ==='object'){
    if(Object.prototype.toString.call(data).indexOf('Array')!==(-1)){
      return 'array';
    } else{
      return 'object';
    }
  } else {
    return typeof data;
  }
}

if(checkType(myAr) === 'array'){console.log('yes, It is an array')};