valueOf (Object.valueOf method) -- Version 8

Returns the primitive value of the specified object. If the object does not have a primitive value, the object is returned.

Returns

Example

The following example shows the return value of valueOf() for a generic object (which does not have a primitive value) and compares it to the return value of toString(). First, create a generic object. Second, create a new Date object set to February 1, 2004, 8:15 AM. The toString() method returns the current time in human-readable form. The valueOf() method returns the primitive value in milliseconds. Third, create a new Array object containing two simple elements. Both toString() and valueOf() return the same value: one,two:

// Create a generic object
var myObject:Object = new Object();
trace(myObject.valueOf()); // output: [object Object]
trace(myObject.toString()); // output: [object Object]

The following examples show the return values for the built-in classes Date and Array, and compares them to the return values of Object.toString():

// Create a new Date object set to February 1, 2004, 8:15 AM
// The toString() method returns the current time in human-readable form
// The valueOf() method returns the primitive value in milliseconds
var myDate:Date = new Date(2004,01,01,8,15);
trace(myDate.toString()); // output: Sun Feb 1 08:15:00 GMT-0800 2004
trace(myDate.valueOf()); // output: 1075652100000

// Create a new Array object containing two simple elements
// In this case both toString() and valueOf() return the same value: one,two
var myArray:Array = new Array("one", "two");
trace(myArray.toString()); // output: one,two
trace(myArray.valueOf()); // output: one,two

See the example for Object.toString() for an example of the return value of Object.valueOf() for a custom class that overrides toString().

valueOf (Object.valueOf method)

Returns

Example

See also