The constructor
method is a special method of a class
for creating and initializing an object of that class.
The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.
Syntax
constructor([arguments]) { ... }
Description
A constructor enables you to provide any custom initialization that must be done before any other methods can be called on an instantiated object.
class Person { constructor(name) { this.name = name; } introduce() { console.log(`Hello, my name is ${this.name}`); } } const otto = new Person('Otto'); otto.introduce();
If you don't provide your own constructor, then a default constructor will be supplied for you. If your class is a base class, the default constructor is empty:
constructor() {}
If your class is a derived class, the default constructor calls the parent constructor, passing along any arguments that were provided:
constructor(...args) { super(...args); }
That enables code like this to work:
class ValidationError extends Error { printCustomerMessage() { return `Validation failed :-( (details: ${this.message})`; } } try { throw new ValidationError("Not a valid phone number"); } catch (error) { if (error instanceof ValidationError) { console.log(error.name); // This is Error instead of ValidationError! console.log(error.printCustomerMessage()); } else { console.log('Unknown error', error); throw error; } }
The ValidationError
class doesn't need an explicit constructor, because it doesn't need to do any custom initialization. The default constructor then takes care of initializing the parent Error
from the argument it is given.
However, if you provide your own constructor, and your class derives from some parent class, then you must explicitly call the parent class constructor using super
. For example:
class ValidationError extends Error { constructor(message) { super(message); // call parent class constructor this.name = 'ValidationError'; this.code = '42'; } printCustomerMessage() { return `Validation failed :-( (details: ${this.message}, code: ${this.code})`; } } try { throw new ValidationError("Not a valid phone number"); } catch (error) { if (error instanceof ValidationError) { console.log(error.name); // Now this is ValidationError! console.log(error.printCustomerMessage()); } else { console.log('Unknown error', error); throw error; } }
There can be only one special method with the name "constructor
" in a class. Having more than one occurrence of a constructor
method in a class will throw a SyntaxError
error.
Examples
Using the constructor
method
This code snippet is taken from the classes sample (live demo).
class Square extends Polygon { constructor(length) { // Here, it calls the parent class' constructor with lengths // provided for the Polygon's width and height super(length, length); // NOTE: In derived classes, `super()` must be called before you // can use `this`. Leaving this out will cause a ReferenceError. this.name = 'Square'; } get area() { return this.height * this.width; } set area(value) { this.height = value**0.5; this.width = value**0.5; } }
Another example
Here the prototype of Square
class is changed—but the constructor of its base class Polygon
is still called when a new instance of a square is created.
class Polygon { constructor() { this.name = "Polygon"; } } class Square extends Polygon { constructor() { super(); } } class Rectangle {} Object.setPrototypeOf(Square.prototype, Rectangle.prototype); console.log(Object.getPrototypeOf(Square.prototype) === Polygon.prototype); //false console.log(Object.getPrototypeOf(Square.prototype) === Rectangle.prototype); //true let newInstance = new Square(); console.log(newInstance.name); //Polygon
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Constructor Method' in that specification. |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | Server | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
constructor | Chrome
Full support
49
| Edge Full support 13 | Firefox Full support 45 | IE No support No | Opera
Full support
36
| Safari Full support 9 | WebView Android
Full support
49
| Chrome Android
Full support
49
| Firefox Android Full support 45 | Opera Android
Full support
36
| Safari iOS Full support 9 | Samsung Internet Android
Full support
5.0
| nodejs
Full support
6.0.0
|
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.