Skip to content

JavaScript Optional Chaining

The optional chaining operator is a very useful operator which we can use to work with objects and their properties or methods

The optional chaining operator is a very useful operator which we can use to work with objects and their properties or methods.

Have you ever used the && operator as a fallback? It’s one of my favorite JavaScript features.

In JavaScript, you can first check if an object exists, and then try to get one of its properties, like this:

const car = null
const color = car && car.color

Even if car is null, you don’t have errors and color is assigned the null value.

You can go down multiple levels:

const car = {}
const colorName = car && car.color && car.color.name

In some other languages, using && might give you true or false, since it’s usually a logic operator.

Not in JavaScript, and it allows us to do some cool things.

Now this new optional chaining operator will let us be even more fancy:

const color = car?.color
const colorName = car?.color?.name

If car is null or undefined, the result will be undefined.

With no errors (while with && in case car was undefined we had a ReferenceError: car is not defined error)


→ Here's my latest YouTube video

→ Get my JavaScript Beginner's Handbook

→ I wrote 17 books to help you become a better developer, download them all at $0 cost by joining my newsletter

JOIN MY CODING BOOTCAMP, an amazing cohort course that will be a huge step up in your coding career - covering React, Next.js - next edition February 2025

Bootcamp 2025

Join the waiting list