String.prototype.toString()

The toString() method of {{jsxref("String")}} values returns this string value.

{{InteractiveExample("JavaScript Demo: String.prototype.toString()")}}

```js interactive-example const stringObj = new String("foo");

console.log(stringObj); // Expected output: String { "foo" }

console.log(stringObj.toString()); // Expected output: "foo"

## Syntax

```js-nolint
toString()

Parameters#

None.

Return value#

A string representing the specified string value.

Description#

The {{jsxref("String")}} object overrides the toString method of {{jsxref("Object")}}; it does not inherit {{jsxref("Object.prototype.toString()")}}. For String values, the toString method returns the string itself (if it's a primitive) or the string that the String object wraps. It has the exact same implementation as {{jsxref("String.prototype.valueOf()")}}.

The toString() method requires its this value to be a String primitive or wrapper object. It throws a {{jsxref("TypeError")}} for other this values without attempting to coerce them to string values.

Because String doesn't have a [Symbol.toPrimitive]() method, JavaScript calls the toString() method automatically when a String object is used in a context expecting a string, such as in a template literal. However, string primitive values do not consult the toString() method to be coerced to strings — since they are already strings, no conversion is performed.

String.prototype.toString = () => "Overridden";
console.log(`${"foo"}`); // "foo"
console.log(`${new String("foo")}`); // "Overridden"

Examples#

Using toString()#

The following example displays the string value of a {{jsxref("String")}} object:

const x = new String("Hello world");

console.log(x.toString()); // "Hello world"

Specifications#

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility#

{{Compat}}

See also#

• {{jsxref("String.prototype.valueOf()")}}