JavaScript: Parsing a string Boolean value?
JavascriptJavascript Problem Overview
JavaScript has parseInt() and parseFloat(), but there's no parseBool or parseBoolean method in the global scope, as far as I'm aware.
I need a method that takes strings with values like "true" or "false" and returns a JavaScript Boolean.
Here's my implementation:
function parseBool(value) {
return (typeof value === "undefined") ?
false :
// trim using jQuery.trim()'s source
value.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "").toLowerCase() === "true";
}
Is this a good function? Please give me your feedback.
Thanks!
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
I would be inclined to do a one liner with a ternary if.
var bool_value = value == "true" ? true : false
Edit: Even quicker would be to simply avoid using the a logical statement and instead just use the expression itself:
var bool_value = value == 'true';
This works because value == 'true' is evaluated based on whether the value variable is a string of 'true'. If it is, that whole expression becomes true and if not, it becomes false, then that result gets assigned to bool_value after evaluation.
Solution 2 - Javascript
You can use JSON.parse for that:
JSON.parse("true"); //returns boolean true
Solution 3 - Javascript
It depends how you wish the function to work.
If all you wish to do is test for the word 'true' inside the string, and define any string (or nonstring) that doesn't have it as false, the easiest way is probably this:
function parseBoolean(str) {
return /true/i.test(str);
}
If you wish to assure that the entire string is the word true you could do this:
function parseBoolean(str) {
return /^true$/i.test(str);
}
Solution 4 - Javascript
You can try the following:
function parseBool(val)
{
if ((typeof val === 'string' && (val.toLowerCase() === 'true' || val.toLowerCase() === 'yes')) || val === 1)
return true;
else if ((typeof val === 'string' && (val.toLowerCase() === 'false' || val.toLowerCase() === 'no')) || val === 0)
return false;
return null;
}
If it's a valid value, it returns the equivalent bool value otherwise it returns null.
Solution 5 - Javascript
You can use JSON.parse or jQuery.parseJSON and see if it returns true using something like this:
function test (input) {
try {
return !!$.parseJSON(input.toLowerCase());
} catch (e) { }
}
Solution 6 - Javascript
Personally I think it's not good, that your function "hides" invalid values as false and - depending on your use cases - doesn't return true for "1".
Another problem could be that it barfs on anything that's not a string.
I would use something like this:
function parseBool(value) {
if (typeof value === "string") {
value = value.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "").toLowerCase();
if (value === "true" || value === "false")
return value === "true";
}
return; // returns undefined
}
And depending on the use cases extend it to distinguish between "0" and "1".
(Maybe there is a way to compare only once against "true", but I couldn't think of something right now.)
Solution 7 - Javascript
You can add this code:
function parseBool(str) {
if (str.length == null) {
return str == 1 ? true : false;
} else {
return str == "true" ? true : false;
}
}
Works like this:
parseBool(1) //true
parseBool(0) //false
parseBool("true") //true
parseBool("false") //false
Solution 8 - Javascript
last but not least, a simple and efficient way to do it with a default value :
ES5
function parseBool(value, defaultValue) {
return (value == 'true' || value == 'false' || value === true || value === false) && JSON.parse(value) || defaultValue;
}
ES6 , a shorter one liner
const parseBool = (value, defaultValue) => ['true', 'false', true, false].includes(value) && JSON.parse(value) || defaultValue
JSON.parse is efficient to parse booleans
Solution 9 - Javascript
Why not keep it simple?
var parseBool = function(str) {
if (typeof str === 'string' && str.toLowerCase() == 'true')
return true;
return (parseInt(str) > 0);
}
Solution 10 - Javascript
Wood-eye be careful. After looking at all this code, I feel obligated to post:
Let's start with the shortest, but very strict way:
var str = "true";
var mybool = JSON.parse(str);
And end with a proper, more tolerant way:
var parseBool = function(str)
{
// console.log(typeof str);
// strict: JSON.parse(str)
if(str == null)
return false;
if (typeof str === 'boolean')
{
if(str === true)
return true;
return false;
}
if(typeof str === 'string')
{
if(str == "")
return false;
str = str.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
if(str.toLowerCase() == 'true' || str.toLowerCase() == 'yes')
return true;
str = str.replace(/,/g, '.');
str = str.replace(/^\s*\-\s*/g, '-');
}
// var isNum = string.match(/^[0-9]+$/) != null;
// var isNum = /^\d+$/.test(str);
if(!isNaN(str))
return (parseFloat(str) != 0);
return false;
}
Testing:
var array_1 = new Array(true, 1, "1",-1, "-1", " - 1", "true", "TrUe", " true ", " TrUe", 1/0, "1.5", "1,5", 1.5, 5, -3, -0.1, 0.1, " - 0.1", Infinity, "Infinity", -Infinity, "-Infinity"," - Infinity", " yEs");
var array_2 = new Array(null, "", false, "false", " false ", " f alse", "FaLsE", 0, "00", "1/0", 0.0, "0.0", "0,0", "100a", "1 00", " 0 ", 0.0, "0.0", -0.0, "-0.0", " -1a ", "abc");
for(var i =0; i < array_1.length;++i){ console.log("array_1["+i+"] ("+array_1[i]+"): " + parseBool(array_1[i]));}
for(var i =0; i < array_2.length;++i){ console.log("array_2["+i+"] ("+array_2[i]+"): " + parseBool(array_2[i]));}
for(var i =0; i < array_1.length;++i){ console.log(parseBool(array_1[i]));}
for(var i =0; i < array_2.length;++i){ console.log(parseBool(array_2[i]));}
Solution 11 - Javascript
I like the solution provided by RoToRa (try to parse given value, if it has any boolean meaning, otherwise - don't). Nevertheless I'd like to provide small modification, to have it working more or less like Boolean.TryParse in C#, which supports out params. In JavaScript it can be implemented in the following manner:
var BoolHelpers = {
tryParse: function (value) {
if (typeof value == 'boolean' || value instanceof Boolean)
return value;
if (typeof value == 'string' || value instanceof String) {
value = value.trim().toLowerCase();
if (value === 'true' || value === 'false')
return value === 'true';
}
return { error: true, msg: 'Parsing error. Given value has no boolean meaning.' }
}
}
The usage:
var result = BoolHelpers.tryParse("false");
if (result.error) alert(result.msg);
Solution 12 - Javascript
stringjs has a toBoolean() method:
http://stringjs.com/#methods/toboolean-tobool
S('true').toBoolean() //true
S('false').toBoolean() //false
S('hello').toBoolean() //false
S(true).toBoolean() //true
S('on').toBoolean() //true
S('yes').toBoolean() //true
S('TRUE').toBoolean() //true
S('TrUe').toBoolean() //true
S('YES').toBoolean() //true
S('ON').toBoolean() //true
S('').toBoolean() //false
S(undefined).toBoolean() //false
S('undefined').toBoolean() //false
S(null).toBoolean() //false
S(false).toBoolean() //false
S({}).toBoolean() //false
S(1).toBoolean() //true
S(-1).toBoolean() //false
S(0).toBoolean() //false
Solution 13 - Javascript
I shamelessly converted Apache Common's toBoolean to JavaScript:
JSFiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/m2efvxLm/1/
Code:
function toBoolean(str) {
if (str == "true") {
return true;
}
if (!str) {
return false;
}
switch (str.length) {
case 1: {
var ch0 = str.charAt(0);
if (ch0 == 'y' || ch0 == 'Y' ||
ch0 == 't' || ch0 == 'T' ||
ch0 == '1') {
return true;
}
if (ch0 == 'n' || ch0 == 'N' ||
ch0 == 'f' || ch0 == 'F' ||
ch0 == '0') {
return false;
}
break;
}
case 2: {
var ch0 = str.charAt(0);
var ch1 = str.charAt(1);
if ((ch0 == 'o' || ch0 == 'O') &&
(ch1 == 'n' || ch1 == 'N') ) {
return true;
}
if ((ch0 == 'n' || ch0 == 'N') &&
(ch1 == 'o' || ch1 == 'O') ) {
return false;
}
break;
}
case 3: {
var ch0 = str.charAt(0);
var ch1 = str.charAt(1);
var ch2 = str.charAt(2);
if ((ch0 == 'y' || ch0 == 'Y') &&
(ch1 == 'e' || ch1 == 'E') &&
(ch2 == 's' || ch2 == 'S') ) {
return true;
}
if ((ch0 == 'o' || ch0 == 'O') &&
(ch1 == 'f' || ch1 == 'F') &&
(ch2 == 'f' || ch2 == 'F') ) {
return false;
}
break;
}
case 4: {
var ch0 = str.charAt(0);
var ch1 = str.charAt(1);
var ch2 = str.charAt(2);
var ch3 = str.charAt(3);
if ((ch0 == 't' || ch0 == 'T') &&
(ch1 == 'r' || ch1 == 'R') &&
(ch2 == 'u' || ch2 == 'U') &&
(ch3 == 'e' || ch3 == 'E') ) {
return true;
}
break;
}
case 5: {
var ch0 = str.charAt(0);
var ch1 = str.charAt(1);
var ch2 = str.charAt(2);
var ch3 = str.charAt(3);
var ch4 = str.charAt(4);
if ((ch0 == 'f' || ch0 == 'F') &&
(ch1 == 'a' || ch1 == 'A') &&
(ch2 == 'l' || ch2 == 'L') &&
(ch3 == 's' || ch3 == 'S') &&
(ch4 == 'e' || ch4 == 'E') ) {
return false;
}
break;
}
default:
break;
}
return false;
}
console.log(toBoolean("yEs")); // true
console.log(toBoolean("yES")); // true
console.log(toBoolean("no")); // false
console.log(toBoolean("NO")); // false
console.log(toBoolean("on")); // true
console.log(toBoolean("oFf")); // false
Inspect this element, and view the console output.
Solution 14 - Javascript
Enough to using eval javascript function to convert string to boolean
eval('true')
eval('false')