JavaScript Numeric Separators

By  on  

Writing good code is important -- writing code that's easily human readable is a next level skill. It's not often that APIs are introduced whose seemingly only useful function is making code more readable, but let me introduce you to JavaScript numeric separators: an API that lets developers use underscores to make numbers more readable!

Consider the following number in your code:

// No commas for numbers in JavaScript
const oneHundredThousand = 100000;

Large numbers have always been difficult to mentally parse for engineers, so using underscores to make code more readable is a total win:

const oneMillion = 1_000_000; // 1000000
const decimals = 1_000_00.01_02_03 // 100000.010203

The only real rule with numeric separators is that the number cannot start or end with an underscore.

Numeric separators within JavaScript seem like spec creators gifting developers a feature. As an engineer, I'll take all I can get. You never stop learning in the world of JavaScript!

Recent Features

  • By
    5 Awesome New Mozilla Technologies You’ve Never Heard Of

    My trip to Mozilla Summit 2013 was incredible.  I've spent so much time focusing on my project that I had lost sight of all of the great work Mozillians were putting out.  MozSummit provided the perfect reminder of how brilliant my colleagues are and how much...

  • By
    Chris Coyier’s Favorite CodePen Demos

    David asked me if I'd be up for a guest post picking out some of my favorite Pens from CodePen. A daunting task! There are so many! I managed to pick a few though that have blown me away over the past few months. If you...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!