Symbol.prototype.description

{{JSRef}}

The description accessor property of {{jsxref("Symbol")}} values returns a string containing the description of this symbol, or undefined if the symbol has no description.

{{InteractiveExample("JavaScript Demo: Symbol.prototype.description")}}

console.log(Symbol("desc").description);
// Expected output: "desc"

console.log(Symbol.iterator.description);
// Expected output: "Symbol.iterator"

console.log(Symbol.for("foo").description);
// Expected output: "foo"

console.log(`${Symbol("foo").description}bar`);
// Expected output: "foobar"

Description

{{jsxref("Symbol")}} objects can be created with an optional description which can be used for debugging but not to access the symbol itself. The Symbol.prototype.description property can be used to read that description. It is different to Symbol.prototype.toString() as it does not contain the enclosing "Symbol()" string. See the examples.

Examples

Using description

Symbol("desc").toString(); // "Symbol(desc)"
Symbol("desc").description; // "desc"
Symbol("").description; // ""
Symbol().description; // undefined

// well-known symbols
Symbol.iterator.toString(); // "Symbol(Symbol.iterator)"
Symbol.iterator.description; // "Symbol.iterator"

// global symbols
Symbol.for("foo").toString(); // "Symbol(foo)"
Symbol.for("foo").description; // "foo"

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

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