Assignment Expressions

JavaScript uses the = operator to assign a value to a variable or property. For example:

i = 0           // Set the variable i to 0.
o.x = 1         // Set the property x of object o to 1.

The = operator expects its left-side operand to be an lvalue: a variable or object property (or array element). It expects its right-side operand to be an arbitrary value of any type. The value of an assignment expression is the value of the right-side operand. As a side effect, the = operator assigns the value on the right to the variable or property on the left so that future references to the variable or property evaluate to the value.

Although assignment expressions are usually quite simple, you may sometimes see the value of an assignment expression used as part of a larger expression. For example, you can assign and test a value in the same expression with code like this:

(a = b) == 0

If you do this, be sure you are clear on the difference between the = and == operators! Note that = has very low precedence and parentheses are usually necessary when the value of an assignment is to be used in a larger expression.

The assignment operator has right-to-left associativity, which means that when multiple assignment operators appear in an expression, they are evaluated from right to left. Thus, you can write code like this to assign a single value to multiple variables:

i = j = k = 0;       // Initialize 3 variables to 0

Assignment with Operation

Besides the normal = assignment operator, JavaScript supports a number of other assignment operators that provide shortcuts by combining assignment with some other operation. For example, the += operator performs addition and assignment. The following expression:

total += sales_tax

is equivalent to this one:

total = total + sales_tax

As you might expect, the += operator works for numbers or strings. For numeric operands, it performs addition and assignment; for string operands, it performs concatenation and assignment.

Similar operators include -=, *=, &=, and so on. Table 4-3 lists them all.

Table 4-3. Assignment operators

OperatorExampleEquivalent
+=a += ba = a + b
-=a -= ba = a - b
*=a *= ba = a * b
/=a /= ba = a / b
%=a %= ba = a % b
<<=a <<= ba = a << b
>>=a >>= ba = a >> b
>>>=a >>>= ba = a >>> b
&=a &= ba = a & b
|=a |= ba = a | b
^=a ^= ba = a ^ b

In most cases, the expression:

a op= b

where op is an operator, is equivalent to the expression:

a = a op b

In the first line, the expression a is evaluated once. In the second it is evaluated twice. The two cases will differ only if a includes side effects such as a function call or an increment operator. The following two assignments, for example, are not the same:

data[i++] *= 2;
data[i++] = data[i++] * 2;

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