MELVIN GEORGE

The globalThis keyword in JavaScript

The globalThis keyword in JavaScript

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MELVIN GEORGE
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1 min read

Originally Published Here 🚀!

If you have worked with JavaScript in different environments such as in browsers, Node.js, or web workers, you might have the headache of accessing the global object.

This is because in different environments the global object is different.

For example, in browsers, the global object is the window object, but in Node.js the global object is the global object, and in web workers it the self object.

This is a pure headache since we had to check for all the possible variations in different environments to access the global object.

But no more headaches. 🤯

The ES2020 globalThis keyword has come to the rescue. 🚀

Now you can use the globalThis keyword in javascript and it automatically points us to the environment's global object.

// Get the global object in
// different JavaScript environments 🦄
console.log(globalThis);

So in browsers accessing the globalThis will point to the window object, in Node.js it will point to global object and in web workers, it will point to the self object.

  • Run the above code in Node.js using repl.it to see the global object in Node.js.
  • And also run the above code in Browser using JSBin to see the global object in the browser.

Feel free to share if you found this useful 😃.

JavaScript