How to use properties of optional object argument

Question

I have this code:

function getName(type, options) {



    if (type == 'dog') {

        var name = 'Rover';

    }

    else {

        var name = options.name || 'Buddy'

    }



    return name;

}

alert(getName('cat'));

I was expecting the

name

variable to be assigned to 'Buddy' but instead I got this error:

Cannot read property 'name' of undefined

Is there a simple way to handle this? I'm hoping for a one-line piece of code. I was thinking about using this but it seems long and unnecessarily complex:

var name = (options !== undefined && options.name) ? options.name : 'Buddy';

Answer 1

You can simplify the check to options && options.name || 'Buddy' because every object is truthy.

How to use properties of optional object argument

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