What does '|| {}' means

Question

I stumbled with the following JavaScript code:

  var Employee = function (entity) {
        var employee = this;

        entity = entity || {};

        employee.employeeId = entity.EmployeeId;
        employee.email = entity.Email;
        employee.firstName = entity.FirstName;
        employee.lastName = entity.LastName; // ....

But I couldn't understand the following sentence:

 entity = entity || {};

if `entity` is `falsy` (null, undefined, 0.... ) assign to entity empty object `{}` — Oleksandr T., Jan 25 '15 at 12:51
Assign to entity if truthy, otherwise assign to a new object. — Ioan, Jan 25 '15 at 12:52

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 25 '15 at 12:52

2

|| is the OR statement in JavaScript. Your function receives entity as variable. When entity is null or undefined, your function will fill it up with empty object which is the same as {}.

answered Jan 25 '15 at 12:52

Thomas Bormans

4,558
5
30
46

What does '|| {}' means

1 Answers1