Appendix C: JavaScript Reserved Words

All languages, including JavaScript, have numerous reserved words that cannot be used as variable names, function names, or any other form of identifiers without causing some problem. If one of these reserved words is used as a user-defined identifier, such as a variable or function name, it should result in a syntax error. For example,

var for="not allowed";
document.write("Variable = " +for);

declares a variable called for, which is, as you have seen, a JavaScript keyword used for looping. You might expect some form of error to occur, and older browsers will throw an error such as the one shown here from Navigator 3,

which make sense. However, newer browsers may not show the expected error. Notice what Internet Explorer displays for the same code.

Sometimes you may find that when a reserved word is used, the code is simply ignored or an error is not shown. For example, use a value of goto instead of for in the previous example and it should work in many browsers, including Internet Explorer.

Generally speaking, reserved words are reserved from use because they already have a defined meaning in some variant of JavaScript or a related technology. Reserved words generally are categorized in three types:

• Language keywords

• Future reserved words

• Words such as object names or related technology keywords

Table C-1 lists the words in the first two categories based upon the JavaScript 1.5 specification combined with Microsoft’s Jscript documentation.

Table C-1: Reserved Words in JavaScript 1.5

>abstract	else	instanceof	switch
>boolean	enum	int	synchronized
>break	export	interface	this
byte	extends	long	throw
case	false	native	throws
catch	final	new	transient
char	finally	null	true
class	float	package	try
const	for	private	typeof
continue	function	protected	val
debugger	goto	public	var
default	if	return	void
delete	implements	short	volatile
do	import	static	while
double	in	super	with

Note

Some reserved words related to types not found in JavaScript, like byte, are reserved in some versions of ECMAScript and not others.

Beyond these well-known reserved words, there are other words that may have problems under some versions of JavaScript including ECMAScript 4, Jscript.NET, and JavaScript 2.0. While the words shown in Table C-2 may not actually be reserved in your browser, they should be avoided just to be safe.

Table C-2: Potentially Reserved Words

As	event	Is	uint
Assert	get	Namespace	ulong
Decimal	include	Require	use
Ensure	internal	Sbyte	ushort
Exclude	invariant	Set

The third category of dangerous identifiers includes names of intrinsic JavaScript objects, functions, and data types. Words like String, parseInt, document, and so on, are included in this category. There are far too many of these “dangerous” identifier names to list, but consider anything in Appendix A or Appendix B to be a JavaScript identifier and inappropriate for other use.

Tip

Future versions of JavaScript will certainly add more support for object-oriented programming principles as well as increase support for interaction with HTML, XML, and CSS. Therefore, JavaScript programmers should avoid any words specific to these languages, such as “head,” “body,” “frame,” and so on. While many of these words might be safely used, less generic identifiers ought to be used instead, both to future-proof code and to avoid bad programming style.