JavaScript shorthand tips and tricks

There is no official ECMAScript or JavaScript language feature called “shorthand”. Developers are responsible for coining the phrase, probably after realizing that terms like Ternary Condition are a bit archaic. The Mozilla Core JavaScript Guide does an excellent job of highlighting many of these shorthand techniques throughout tutorials, but I thought it best to have a definitive list all in one place. If you have others you would like to add, please feel free to comment.

Boolean shorthand is probably most overlooked by beginners. It is a clean approach, even if you do not get a major decrease in file size. One thing to remember is that the exclamation point questions whether a value is false, not if the current value is the opposite of the initial variable value. This is a common mistake.

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Boolean Shorthand 1
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If "a" is equal to true,
then do something.

Longhand:

Code:

var a;
if ( a == true ) {
	// do something...
}

Shorthand:

Code:

var a;
if ( a ) {
	// do something...
}

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Boolean Shorthand 2
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If "a" is NOT equal to true,
then do something.

Longhand:

Code:

var a;
if ( a != true ) {
	// do something...
}

Shorthand:

Code:

var a;
if ( !a ) {
	// do something...
}

The following conditional shorthand statements are also known as Ternary Conditions. Paul Bakaus, the creator of the jQuery UI plugin, writes about advanced Ternary Conditions in his post aptly titled Advanced ternaryconditions in JavaScript. I invite you to check out his post after digesting this simple example.


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Conditional Shorthand 1
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If "a" is not defined, or is not equal to true,
then "a" is equal to "b".

Longhand:

Code:

var a, b;
if ( !a ) {
	a = b;
}

Shorthand:

Code:

var a, b;
a = a || b;

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Conditional Shorthand 2
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If some condition is equal to true,
then "a" is equal to "b", or else
"a" is equal to "c".

Longhand:

Code:

var a, b, c;
if ( true ) {
	a = b;
} else {
	a = c;
}

Shorthand:

Code:

var a, b, c;
a = ( true ) ? b : c;

At first glance, the next assignment operator shorthand (second) example does not seem all that useful. Why would you want to set multiple variables equal to a single value? As you advance in your JavaScript knowledge you will quickly find that this is useful when several variables need to be equal to an object, such as a function or an array. The jQuery JavaScript framework uses this technique when initializing the jQuery global namespace.

Assignment Operator Shorthand 2 now reads correctly. Instead of a = b = c = d it should have read d = c = b = a. Sorry for any confusion.


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Assignment Operator Shorthand 1
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Longhand:

Code:

var a, b;
a = a + b;

Shorthand:

Code:

var a, b;
a += b;

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Assignment Operator Shorthand 2
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"d" is equal to "c", which is equal to "b",
which is equal to "a". Therefore, "d", "c",
and "b" are all equal to "a".

Longhand:

Code:

var a, b, c, d;
b = a;
c = b;
d = c;

Shorthand:

Code:

var a, b, c, d;
d = c = b = a;

Object shorthand is the most commonly recognized shorthand technique, but many beginners miss out on this JavaScript goodness when learning online from tutorials dating back several years.


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Object Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

var a = new Array();
var b = new Object();
var c = new String("myString");

Shorthand:

Code:

var a = [];
var b = {};
var c = "myString"; // This is technically a primitive, and not an object.
// Execute a method on it, and it becomes an object.

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Object Array Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

var a = new Array();
a[0] = "myString1";
a[1] = "myString2";
a[2] = "myString3";

Shorthand:

Code:

var a = ["myString1", "myString2", "myString3"];

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Object Hash Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

var a = new Object();
a["myStringKey1"] = "myStringValue1";
a["myStringKey2"] = "myStringValue2";
a["myStringKey3"] = "myStringValue3";

Shorthand:

Code:

var a = {
	myStringKey1: "myStringValue1",
	myStringKey2: "myStringValue2",
	myStringKey3: "myStringValue3"
};

Certainly one of the lesser known shorthand tricks is treating a string like an array. This technique mimics the behavior of the charAt() method, and is a straightforward substitute.

It appears that this does not work in IE. Sorry about that.


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charAt() Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

"myString".charAt(0);

Shorthand:

Code:

"myString"[0]; // Returns 'm'

The eval() function may not be as evil as some have been lead to believe, but there is still an alternative for when you are being scolded mercilessly by a senior developer. This bracket notation shorthand technique is much cleaner than an evaluation, and you will win the praise of colleagues who once scoffed at your amateur coding abilities.


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eval() / Bracket Notation Shorthand
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NOTE:
Assumes a form with name attribute equal to "form_name",
and a form control with the value set equal to strFormControl.

Longhand:

Code:

var a, strFormControl;
a = eval( 'document.form_name.' + strFormControl + '.value' );

Shorthand:

Code:

var a, strFormControl;
a = document.form_name[strFormControl].value;

Until you program your first public API or JavaScript framework, the following shorthand trick may not seem all that much shorter. However, experienced developers know that taking advantage of variable function arguments (parameters) can quickly cut down on file size. Instead of naming all your parameters, use the inherent arguments property available to every function. Any arguments passed to the function will be fed into this array-like property, and can be accessed by index. Note that you can access the length and values in arguments, but in order to use methods like push() or slice(), you have to create an array, and set it equal to arguments.

This example was edited slightly from the original version to avoid some confusion.


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Function Variable Arguments Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

function myFunction( myString, myNumber, myObject, myArray, myBoolean ) {
	// do something...
}
myFunction( "String", 1, [], {}, true );

Code:

function myFunction() {
	alert( arguments.length ); // Returns 5
	for ( i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++ ) {
		alert( typeof arguments[I] ); // Returns string, number, object, object, boolean
	}
}

myFunction( "String", 1, [], {}, true );

Object literal shorthand can take a little getting used to, but seasoned developers usually prefer it over a series of nested functions and variables. You can argue which technique is shorter, but I enjoy using object literal notation as a clean substitute to functions as constructors.


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Object Literal Shorthand
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Longhand:

Code:

function myFunction() {
	this.myMethod = function() {}
}
var myObject = new myFunction();

Shorthand:

Code:

var myObject = {
	myMethod: function() {}
};

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