In JavaScript, let
, const
, and var
are used to declare variables, but they have some important differences in terms of scoping, hoisting, and reassigning:
Var:
Function-scoped: Variables declared with
var
are function-scoped, which means they are only accessible within the function in which they are declared.Hoisting: Variables declared with
var
are hoisted to the top of their containing function or global scope. This means we can access the variable before it's declared in the code, but it will have an initial value ofundefined
.Reassignment: Variables declared with
var
can be reassigned and modified.Example:
function example() { var x = 1; if (true) { var x = 2; // This also affects the 'x' declared outside the if block. } console.log(x); // Outputs 2 }
Let:
Block-scoped: Variables declared with
let
are block-scoped, which means they are only accessible within the block (enclosed by curly braces) in which they are declared.Hoisting: Variables declared with
let
are hoisted to the top of their containing block but are not initialized. This means we cannot access the variable before it's declared.Reassignment: Variables declared with
let
can be reassigned and modified.
Example:
function example() {
let x = 1;
if (true) {
let x = 2; // This does not affect the 'x' declared outside the if block.
}
console.log(x); // Outputs 1
}
Const:
Block-scoped: Variables declared with
const
are also block-scoped.Hoisting: Like
let
, variables declared withconst
are hoisted to the top of their containing block but are not initialized, so we cannot access them before they are declared.Immutability: Variables declared with
const
cannot be reassigned once they are assigned a value. However, for objects and arrays, the properties or elements of the object or array can still be modified.
Example:
function example() {
const x = 1;
if (true) {
const x = 2; // This does not affect the 'x' declared outside the if block.
}
console.log(x); // Outputs 1
}
In modern JavaScript development, it's generally recommended to use const
by default and only use let
when we need to reassign a variable. Avoid using var
in new code.