String length

The length property of a String object contains the length of the string, in UTF-16 code units. length is a read-only data property of string instances.

Syntax

string.length

Description

This property returns the number of code units in the string. UTF-16, the string format used by JavaScript, uses a single 16-bit code unit to represent the most common characters, but needs to use two code units for less commonly-used characters, so it's possible for the value returned by length to not match the actual number of characters in the string.

ECMAScript 2016 (ed. 7) established a maximum length of 2^53 - 1 elements. Previously, no maximum length was specified. In Firefox, strings have a maximum length of 2**30 - 2 (~1GB). In versions prior to Firefox 65, the maximum length was 2**28 - 1 (~256MB).

For an empty string, length is 0.

The static property String.length is unrelated to the length of strings, it's the arity of the String function (loosely, the number of formal parameters it has), which is 1.

Examples

Basic usage

let x = 'Mozilla';
let empty = '';

console.log(x + ' is ' + x.length + ' code units long');
/* "Mozilla is 7 code units long" */

console.log('The empty string has a length of ' + empty.length);
// expected output: "The empty string has a length of 0"

Assigning to length

let myString = "bluebells";

// Attempting to assign a value to a string's .length property has no observable effect. 
myString.length = 4;
console.log(myString);
// expected output: "bluebells"
console.log(myString.length);
// expected output: 9

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
ECMAScript 1st Edition (ECMA-262) Standard Initial definition. Implemented in JavaScript 1.0.
ECMAScript Latest Draft (ECMA-262) Draft

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub
DesktopMobileServer
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung InternetNode.js
lengthChrome Full support 1Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 1IE Full support 3Opera Full support YesSafari Full support YesWebView Android Full support 1Chrome Android Full support 18Firefox Android Full support 4Opera Android Full support YesSafari iOS Full support YesSamsung Internet Android Full support 1.0nodejs Full support Yes

Legend

Full support  
Full support

See also

Related Topics
  1. Standard built-in objects
  2. String
  3. Properties
    1. String.prototype.length
    2. String.prototype
  4. Methods
    1. String.fromCharCode()
    2. String.fromCodePoint()
    3. String.prototype.anchor()
    4. String.prototype.big()
    5. String.prototype.blink()
    6. String.prototype.bold()
    7. String.prototype.charAt()
    8. String.prototype.charCodeAt()
    9. String.prototype.codePointAt()
    10. String.prototype.concat()
    11. String.prototype.endsWith()
    12. String.prototype.fixed()
    13. String.prototype.fontcolor()
    14. String.prototype.fontsize()
    15. String.prototype.includes()
    16. String.prototype.indexOf()
    17. String.prototype.italics()
    18. String.prototype.lastIndexOf()
    19. String.prototype.link()
    20. String.prototype.localeCompare()
    21. String.prototype.match()
    22. String.prototype.matchAll()
    23. String.prototype.normalize()
    24. String.prototype.padEnd()
    25. String.prototype.padStart()
    26. String.prototype.quote()
    27. String.prototype.repeat()
    28. String.prototype.replace()
    29. String.prototype.search()
    30. String.prototype.slice()
    31. String.prototype.small()
    32. String.prototype.split()
    33. String.prototype.startsWith()
    34. String.prototype.strike()
    35. String.prototype.sub()
    36. String.prototype.substr()
    37. String.prototype.substring()
    38. String.prototype.sup()
    39. String.prototype.toLocaleLowerCase()
    40. String.prototype.toLocaleUpperCase()
    41. String.prototype.toLowerCase()
    42. String.prototype.toSource()
    43. String.prototype.toString()
    44. String.prototype.toUpperCase()
    45. String.prototype.trim()
    46. String.prototype.trimEnd()
    47. String.prototype.trimStart()
    48. String.prototype.valueOf()
    49. String.prototype[@@iterator]()
    50. String.raw()
  5. Inheritance:
  6. Function
  7. Properties
    1. Function.arguments
    2. Function.arity
    3. Function.caller
    4. Function.displayName
    5. Function.length
    6. Function.name
    7. Function.prototype
  8. Methods
    1. Function.prototype.apply()
    2. Function.prototype.bind()
    3. Function.prototype.call()
    4. Function.prototype.isGenerator()
    5. Function.prototype.toSource()
    6. Function.prototype.toString()
  9. Object
  10. Properties
    1. Object.prototype.__count__
    2. Object.prototype.__noSuchMethod__
    3. Object.prototype.__parent__
    4. Object.prototype.__proto__
    5. Object.prototype.constructor
  11. Methods
    1. Object.prototype.__defineGetter__()
    2. Object.prototype.__defineSetter__()
    3. Object.prototype.__lookupGetter__()
    4. Object.prototype.__lookupSetter__()
    5. Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty()
    6. Object.prototype.isPrototypeOf()
    7. Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable()
    8. Object.prototype.toLocaleString()
    9. Object.prototype.toSource()
    10. Object.prototype.toString()
    11. Object.prototype.unwatch()
    12. Object.prototype.valueOf()
    13. Object.prototype.watch()
    14. Object.setPrototypeOf()