In this lesson, you'll learn how to use in JavaScript to compare values and understand the concept of equality, including the differences between strict and loose equality.

Comparison Operators and Equality

As you've already learned about arithmetic operators, comparison operators work similarly in that they are fundamental tools in programming. You've most likely heard of operators like greater than , less than , or equal to .

Comparison operators compare two values and return a boolean value: or . This is the main takeaway: the return value of a comparison operator is always a boolean.

The topic of equality in JavaScript is closely connected to comparison operators. We'll cover both topics in this lesson. Let's start with an example using two numbers:

// Comparison Operators Demo in JavaScript

const x = 10;
const y = 5;
const z = "10"; // A string with the same value as x

// Greater than (>)
console.log("Is x > y? ", x > y); // true (10 is greater than 5)

// Greater than or equal to (>=)
console.log("Is x >= y? ", x >= y); // true (10 is greater than 5)

// Less than (<)
console.log("Is y < x? ", y < x); // true (5 is less than 10)

// Less than or equal to (<=)
console.log("Is y <= x? ", y <= x); // true (5 is less than 10)

// Loose equality (==) - Compares values, but ignores types
console.log("Is x == z? ", x == z); // true (10 == "10" because == allows type conversion)

// Strict equality (===) - Compares both value and type
console.log("Is x === z? ", x === z); // false (10 is a number, "10" is a string)

// Loose inequality (!=) - Checks if values are different, ignoring type
console.log("Is x != z? ", x != z); // false (10 == "10" due to type coercion)

// Strict inequality (!==) - Checks if values OR types are different
console.log("Is x !== z? ", x !== z); // true (10 is a number, "10" is a string)

Everything we've covered so far is straightforward. The key point to remember is that comparison operators always return a boolean value.

The only aspect that requires a deeper look is the difference between: strict , and loose , equality.

Understanding when to use each is crucial, and we'll explore that in the next lesson!

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