JavaScript basics comparison operators

In this article on JavaScript basics, we'll be looking at comparison operators.
These operators can be used to compare two values returning a boolean (true or false).

These are super handy for decision-making. Let's see which ones we can use:

Operator	Comparison	Example
==	Equal to	8==8 // true 5==8 // false '5'==5 // true 'f'=='f' // true
!=	Not equal to	8!=8 // false 5!=8 // true '5'!=5 // false 'f'!='f' // false
===	Strict equal to	8===8 // true '5'===5 // false 'f'==='f' // true
!==	Strict not equal to	8!==8 // false '5'!==5 // true 'f'!=='f' // false
>	Greater than	5>8 // false 8>5 // true 5>5 // false
<	Less than	5<8 // true 8<5 // false 5<5 // false
>=	Greater than or equal to	5>=8 // false 8>=5 // true 5>=5 // true
<=	Less than or equal to	5<=8 // true 8<=5 // false 5<=5 // true

JavaScript equal to operator

This operator is used to evaluate two values. However, they don't have to be of the same type.
Meaning we can assess if a string is equal to a number!

`5` == 5; // true
5 == 5; // true

But it can also compare strings for instance:

'string' == 'string'; // true
'String' == 'string'; // false

Note: It's capital sensitive, as you can see above!

JavaScript not equal to operator

Following this is the not equal to operator, which can evaluate if a comparison is not correct.

5 != 5; // false
8 != 5; // true
'8' != 5; // true
'String' != 'string'; // true
'string' != 'string'; // false

JavaScript strict operators

Then we have these two as strict versions, which should be preferred over the top ones.
What this means is that it will check against the type as well.

5 === 5; // true
'5' === 5; // false

And the same works for the not equal to strict comparison.

5 !== 5; // false
8 !== 5; // true
'8' !== 5; // true

Read more about == vs === in JavaScript.

JavaScript Greater and Less then

Then we have the greater than and less than operators.
These can be used to assess if a value is greater or less than the compared one.

Generally, these should only be used with number values.

8 > 5; // true
8 < 5; // false
5 > 8; // false
5 < 8; // true
5 > 5; // false

JavaScript greater/less or equal to

We can also use the above two comparisons to check whether something hits a threshold.

We want to evaluate if a value is greater than or equal to a certain number?

5 >= 5; // true
8 >= 5; // true

Meaning our number is greater than or equal to 5, which is the case in the above example.

This can also be used for checking less than operations.

5 <= 5; // true
3 <= 5; // true

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Comments

[niksin]

Modern Syntax For JavaScript Best Practice For Beginners

[Imia Hazel]

Thanks for the refresher. I mostly use Strictly Equal To operator.

[Chris Bongers]

Glad you liked it Imia,
And indeed hardly a good usecase for the non-strict version

[Sadegh Rastgoo]

Thank you for article ❤️
Is JS compare string and number base on unicode? or am i wrong?is it possible in strict equal operator we recive true for compare a string and a number? (Example= 5 !== 'e')

[Chris Bongers]

Hi Sadegh,

Glad you enjoyed the article.
String and number I don't think has anything to do with unicode yet,
in your example we would get true since it doesn't match.

Unicode only comes in when certain characters look a like, but have a different unicode entity. As far as i'm aware.