Optional Chaining (?.) & Nullish Coalescing (??)

Optional chaining (?.) safely accesses nested properties without crashing on null/undefined. Nullish coalescing (??) provides defaults only for null/undefined (not 0 or ''). Both prevent common crashes in real-world code.

10 min•By Priygop Team•Updated 2026

?. and ??

Optional chaining (?.) — user?.address?.city; returns undefined (not Error) if user is null/undefined
Works with methods — user?.greet?.(); calls greet only if it exists
Works with arrays — users?.[0]?.name; safe array access
Nullish coalescing (??) — value ?? default; default ONLY if value is null/undefined
?? vs || — || treats 0, '', false as falsy. ?? only treats null/undefined as 'missing'
Combine — user?.name ?? 'Guest'; safe access + safe default

Optional Chaining & Nullish Coalescing Code

// Without optional chaining — bug-prone
const user = null;
// console.log(user.name);        // ❌ TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of null
// console.log(user.address.city); // ❌ Crash!

// ✅ With optional chaining
console.log(user?.name);           // undefined (no crash!)
console.log(user?.address?.city);  // undefined

// Nested access
const profile = {
  name: "Alice",
  settings: {
    theme: "dark",
    notifications: { email: true }
  }
};

console.log(profile?.settings?.theme);              // "dark"
console.log(profile?.settings?.notifications?.sms);  // undefined
console.log(profile?.nonexistent?.deep?.value);      // undefined

// Optional method calls
const obj = { greet: () => "Hello!" };
console.log(obj.greet?.());    // "Hello!"
console.log(obj.farewell?.()); // undefined (no crash)

// Nullish coalescing (??) vs OR (||)
const port = 0;
console.log(port || 3000);  // 3000 ← WRONG! 0 is valid
console.log(port ?? 3000);  // 0 ← CORRECT! 0 is not null/undefined

const name = "";
console.log(name || "Guest");  // "Guest" ← maybe wrong (empty string is intentional?)
console.log(name ?? "Guest");  // "" ← keeps empty string

const value = null;
console.log(value ?? "default"); // "default" ← null triggers ??

// Combined pattern
const config = null;
const theme = config?.settings?.theme ?? "light";
console.log(theme); // "light" (safe access + safe default)

Tip

Use ?? for values where 0 or '' are valid: const port = config.port ?? 3000. Use || when any falsy value should trigger the default. Use ?. to safely navigate nested properties: user?.profile?.avatar.

Diagram

Loading diagram…

?? only checks null/undefined, || checks all falsy.

Common Mistake

Warning

Using || instead of ?? when 0 or empty string are valid values. const count = input || 10 replaces 0 with 10, which is usually wrong. const count = input ?? 10 only replaces null/undefined. Know the difference.

Practice Task

Note

Practice modern operators: (1) Use ?. to safely access nested API response properties. (2) Use ?? vs || on values like 0, '', and false to see the difference. (3) Use ??= to set defaults on an object's properties.

Quick Quiz

Key Takeaways

Optional chaining (.
Optional chaining (?.) — user?.address?.city; returns undefined (not Error) if user is null/undefined
Works with methods — user?.greet?.(); calls greet only if it exists
Works with arrays — users?.[0]?.name; safe array access

Topics in This Module

?. and ??

Optional chaining (?.) — user?.address?.city; returns undefined (not Error) if user is null/undefined

Works with methods — user?.greet?.(); calls greet only if it exists

Works with arrays — users?.[0]?.name; safe array access

Nullish coalescing (??) — value ?? default; default ONLY if value is null/undefined

?? vs || — || treats 0, '', false as falsy. ?? only treats null/undefined as 'missing'

Combine — user?.name ?? 'Guest'; safe access + safe default

Optional Chaining & Nullish Coalescing Code

// Without optional chaining — bug-prone
const user = null;
// console.log(user.name);        // ❌ TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of null
// console.log(user.address.city); // ❌ Crash!

// ✅ With optional chaining
console.log(user?.name);           // undefined (no crash!)
console.log(user?.address?.city);  // undefined

// Nested access
const profile = {
  name: "Alice",
  settings: {
    theme: "dark",
    notifications: { email: true }
  }
};

console.log(profile?.settings?.theme);              // "dark"
console.log(profile?.settings?.notifications?.sms);  // undefined
console.log(profile?.nonexistent?.deep?.value);      // undefined

// Optional method calls
const obj = { greet: () => "Hello!" };
console.log(obj.greet?.());    // "Hello!"
console.log(obj.farewell?.()); // undefined (no crash)

// Nullish coalescing (??) vs OR (||)
const port = 0;
console.log(port || 3000);  // 3000 ← WRONG! 0 is valid
console.log(port ?? 3000);  // 0 ← CORRECT! 0 is not null/undefined

const name = "";
console.log(name || "Guest");  // "Guest" ← maybe wrong (empty string is intentional?)
console.log(name ?? "Guest");  // "" ← keeps empty string

const value = null;
console.log(value ?? "default"); // "default" ← null triggers ??

// Combined pattern
const config = null;
const theme = config?.settings?.theme ?? "light";
console.log(theme); // "light" (safe access + safe default)

Topics in This Module