React showing 0 instead of nothing with short-circuit (&&) conditional component

I have the following simple short-circuit statement that should show either a component or nothing:

{profileTypesLoading && <GeneralLoader />}

If the statement is false, it renders a 0 instead of nothing.

I have done a console.log(profileTypesLoading) just to see quickly what the status of the profileTypesLoading property is and it's either 1 or 0 as expected. 0 should be false... causing nothing to render. Right?

Any idea why this would happen?

Since your condition is falsy and so doesn't return the second argument (<GeneralLoader />), it will return profileTypesLoading, which is a number, so react will render it because React skips rendering for anything that is typeof boolean or undefined and will render anything that is typeof string or number:

To make it safe, you can either use a ternary expression {condition ? <Component /> : null} or boolean cast your condition like {!!condition && <Component />}

0 is a falsy value, so when it is evaluated by &&, it returns 0. However, 0 is renderable by React because it is a number:

// Renderable values
1 && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders <GeneralLoader />
"a string" && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders <GeneralLoader />
0 && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders '0'

// Non-renderable values
false && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing
null && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing
undefined && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing

---

TLDR

This is because of how javascript itself process [truthy and falsy values][1]:

> In JavaScript, a truthy value is a value that is considered true when > encountered in a Boolean context. All values are truthy unless they > are defined as falsy (i.e., except for false, 0, "", null, undefined, > and NaN).

When used with the && operator, the returned value depends on the left value:

• If the left value is truthy, the right value is returned.
• If the left value is falsy, its value is returned.

Examples:

// Truthy values
1 && "hello" // => "hello"
"a string" && "hello" // => "hello"

// Falsy values
0 && "hello" // => 0
false && "hello" // => false
null && "hello" // => null
undefined && "hello" // => undefined

The same rules applies to JSX because it is [a syntax extension to JavaScript][2]. However, the issue is that **

The issue is that 0 is a falsy value, so when it is evaluated by &&, it returns 0. However, 0 is renderable by React because it is a number

// Renderable values
1 && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders <GeneralLoader />
"a string" && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders <GeneralLoader />
0 && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders 0

// Non-renderable values
false && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing
null && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing
undefined && <GeneralLoader /> // => Renders nothing

This would solve the problem:

{!!profileTypesLoading && <GeneralLoader />}

As it will convert 0 to false. The reason is when it's 0 the next condition doesn't get executed and it behaves like a number in JavaScript so double negation helps here.

You can use the double Bang (!!). This returns the boolean true/false association of a value and will not render a 0.

{!!profileTypesLoading && <GeneralLoader/>}

A more straightforward approach:

{Boolean(profileTypesLoading) && <GeneralLoader />}

To evaluate a false condition at first, using a const with ternary is a easy way. Example:

On this case a simple button is shown if someCollecctionProperty is empty else, a button with some-options-menu will be shown (Material UI Example)

export default function MyComponent({ obj }) {

  const jsxResponse = !obj.someCollecctionProperty.length ? <Button>No Action</Button> 
    : 
    <>
      <Button 
        aria-label="more"
        aria-controls="long-menu"
        aria-haspopup="true" 
        variant="contained" 
        onClick={handleClick} 
        color={'primary'}>
          <ThumbUpAltOutlinedIcon/>OK
      </Button>
      <Menu
        id="long-menu"
        anchorEl={anchorEl}
        keepMounted
        open={open}
        onClose={handleClose}
      >
        {obj.someCollecctionProperty.map((option) => (
          <MenuItem key={option.id} onClick={handleClose}>
            <Avatar variant="square" alt={option.name} src={option.url}/>{option.configName}
          </MenuItem>
        ))}
      </Menu>
    </>;

  return (<div>{jsxResponse}</div>);
}

jsxResponse is the rendered component, 0 on view can be avoid with this