How can val() return Number?
JavascriptJqueryStringNumbersJavascript Problem Overview
In the val
docs written this description:
> .val() Returns: String, Number, Array
I tried to get a Number
, but it seems to return string
only, Is there something that I'm doing wrong?
$('#gdoron').val('1');
alert($('#gdoron').val() === '1'); // true
alert(typeof $('#gdoron').val()); // string.
$('#gdoron').val(1);
alert($('#gdoron').val() === 1); // false
alert(typeof $('#gdoron').val()); // string (not "number"!)
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input type="text" id="gdoron" />
My question is: how can val()
return number as the docs says? The question is not about how can I parse the string.
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
A text input's value
attribute will always return a string. You need to parseInt
the value to get an integer:
parseInt($('#myInput').val(), 10);
Solution 2 - Javascript
Some HTML5 elements e.g. progress;
console.log(typeof $("#prog").val()); // number
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<progress value="50" max="100" id="prog"></progress>
Solution 3 - Javascript
I've done a bit of quick peeking around, and I think I have an answer. If you look at the implementation of the val
function you can see that if a so-called val-hook is in place, if the val-hook returns a number, that number will be returned as-is from the val function. I found this discussion which suggests that val-hooks are primarily used by plugins to create custom controls, such as sliders, etc., where the "natural" return value of val
could be an integer. Hope this sheds a bit of light on your question.
Solution 4 - Javascript
Hmm. For all these in the console, jQuery $($0).val()
and Javascript's $0.value
return the string "3":
<input type='number' value='3'/>
<input type='text' value='3'/>
<input type='radio' value='3'/>
<input type='checkbox' value='3'/>
So I think the jQuery val() documentation could be clearer. I can't see how it would ever return a number value so I'd suggest using parseInt($($0).val())
or parseFloat($($0).val())
.
Solution 5 - Javascript
You could simply create a jquery plugin to use instead of val() that would do this. Here I create the function nval() to use instead of val() when fetching a elements value.
$.fn.nval = function() {
return Number(this.val())
};
Then in your code just use the following to get the value as a number
$('#elementID').nval()