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JavaScript Symbol to string

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In JavaScript, you can convert a Symbol to a string using the toString() method. This method returns a string representation of the symbol.

Symbol().toString();  

Note: the string representation of a symbol includes the string "Symbol" followed by the symbol’s description in parentheses.

JavaScript Symbol to string example

Simple example code,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<script>
    const mySymbol = Symbol('mySymbol');
    const res = mySymbol.toString();

    console.log(res); 
    console.log(typeof(res))
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output:

JavaScript Symbol to string

Symbol type conversions

1. String Conversion: You can convert a symbol to a string using the toString() method or the String() constructor.

const mySymbol = Symbol('mySymbol');
const res = mySymbol.toString();

const res = String(mySymbol);

2. Boolean Conversion: use the Boolean() constructor but this will always return true, since symbols are always truthy values in JavaScript.

const mySymbol = Symbol('mySymbol');
const res = Boolean(mySymbol);
console.log(res); // true

3. Number Conversion: You can define a custom valueOf() method on a symbol object to return a numerical value. Better to use symbols as unique identifiers rather than numerical values.

const mySymbol = Symbol('mySymbol');
mySymbol.valueOf = function() {
  return 42;
};
const res = Number(mySymbol);
console.log(res); // 42

4. Object Conversion: You can convert a symbol to an object using the Object() constructor or the object literal syntax. This will create a new object with a property that has the symbol as its key.

const mySymbol = Symbol('mySymbol');
const res = Object(mySymbol);
console.log(typeof res); // "object"
console.log(res[mySymbol]); // undefined

const myObj = {[mySymbol]: 'hello'};
console.log(myObj[mySymbol]); // "hello"

Do comment if you have any doubts or suggestions on this JS conversion topic.

Note: The All JS Examples codes are tested on the Firefox browser and the Chrome browser.

OS: Windows 10

Code: HTML 5 Version

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