Declared and undeclared global variables
The mechanism for storing and accessing them is the same, but JavaScript treats them differently in some cases based on the value of the configurable
attribute (described below). In regular usage, they should behave the same.
Both exist in the global object
Below are some comparisons of declared and undeclared global variables.
var declared = 1; // Explicit global variable (new variable)
undeclared = 1; // Implicit global variable (property of default global object)
window.hasOwnProperty('declared') // true
window.hasOwnProperty('undeclared') // true
window.propertyIsEnumerable('declared') // true
window.propertyIsEnumerable('undeclared') // true
window.declared // 1
window.undeclared // 1
window.declared = 2;
window.undeclared = 2;
declared // 2
undeclared // 2
delete declared // false
delete undeclared // true
delete undeclared // true (same result if delete it again)
delete window.declared // false
delete window.undeclared // true (same result if delete it yet again)
delete window.undeclared // true (still true)
Both declared and undeclared global variables are properties of the window
object (the default global object). Neither one is inherited from a different object through the prototype chain. They both exist directly in the window
object (since window.hasOwnProperty
returns true
for both).
The configurable attribute
For declared global variables, the configurable
attribute is false
. For undeclared global variables, it's true
. The value of the configurable
attribute can be retrieved using the getOwnPropertyDescriptor
method, as shown below.
var declared = 1;
undeclared = 1;
(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(window, 'declared')).configurable // false
(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(window, 'undeclared')).configurable // true
If the configurable
attribute of a property is true, the attributes of the property can be changed using the defineProperty
method, and the property can be deleted using the delete
operator. Otherwise, the attributes cannot be changed, and the property cannot be deleted in this manner.
In non-strict mode, the delete
operator returns true
if the property is configurable, and returns false
if it's non-configurable.
Summary
Declared global variable
- Is a property of the default global object (
window
)
- The property attributes cannot be changed.
- Cannot be deleted using the
delete
operator
Undeclared global variable
- Is a property of the default global object (
window
)
- The property attributes can be changed.
- Can be deleted using the
delete
operator
See also