I want to catch an error when access outside of array's bounds happens but it doesn't seem to throw an error.
let arr = [2,4,5];
let test = arr[3];
console.log(test);
I know that I can test for undefined and throw an error
if (arr[3] === undefined) throw new Error();
but how e I can't just do try and catch it like the following.
let arr = [2,4,5];
try {
let tmp = arr[3];
} catch(e) {
lastIndex = findLastIndex(arr, high / 2, high);
break;
}
I want to catch an error when access outside of array's bounds happens but it doesn't seem to throw an error.
let arr = [2,4,5];
let test = arr[3];
console.log(test);
I know that I can test for undefined and throw an error
if (arr[3] === undefined) throw new Error();
but how e I can't just do try and catch it like the following.
let arr = [2,4,5];
try {
let tmp = arr[3];
} catch(e) {
lastIndex = findLastIndex(arr, high / 2, high);
break;
}
Share
Improve this question
asked Jul 4, 2019 at 21:46
CodeCrackCodeCrack
5,37311 gold badges47 silver badges75 bronze badges
3
- 1 Accessing an undefined property in JavaScript does not cause a runtime error. It's just the way the language works. – Pointy Commented Jul 4, 2019 at 21:50
-
Yes, JS doesn't throw an error when accessing a non-existing property. If you want to handle it, do it anticipatory:
if (i < arr.length) tmp = arr[i] else …
. – Bergi Commented Jul 4, 2019 at 21:55 - @Bergi that's a good solution – CodeCrack Commented Jul 6, 2019 at 21:11
1 Answer
Reset to default 8As you can see, accessing a non-existent array index does not throw an error - the value "accessed" will simply be undefined
. Ordinary objects work the same way:
const obj = {};
// No error:
const val = obj.foo;
console.log(val);
But errors generally should not be used for control flow - errors should handle exceptional cases. For what you're doing, I'd use if
/else
instead, eg
const arr = [0, 1, 2];
if (4 in arr) {
const val = arr[4];
// ...
} else {
console.log('4 is not in the arr');
}