What happens if we set the value of undefined?

Question

What does this line below do?

undefined = 'A value'; 

If it does not change the value of undefined then what happens behind the scenes?

Answer 1

undefined is a property of the global object, i.e. it is a variable in global scope. The initial value of undefined is the primitive value undefined.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/undefined

So, it's just a variable, nothing special about it. Now, to answer your questions:

1. undefined = 'A value'; attempts to assign a string 'A value' to the global variable undefined
2. In older browsers the value changes, i.e. undefined === 'A value'; // true. In newer browsers under strict mode the operation results in an error.

You can test the following in a browser console (I'm using a modern browser here - Google Chrome):

undefined = true; console.log(undefined); // undefined // in older browsers like the older Internet Explorer it would have logged true 

The value of undefined doesn't change in the above example. This is because (emphasis mine):

In modern browsers (JavaScript 1.8.5 / Firefox 4+), undefined is a non-configurable, non-writable property per the ECMAScript 5 specification.

Under strict mode:

'use strict'; undefined = true; // VM358:2 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot assign to read only property 'undefined' of object 

Answer 2

Unlike things like true, 123 or null, undefined is not a literal. That means using the undefined identifier is not a foolproof way to obtain the undefined value. Instead, can use the void operator, e.g. void 0.

By default, undefined defined a property of the global object, that is, global variable. Before ECMAScript 5, that property was writable, so

undefined = "A value"; 

replaced the value of window.undefined, assuming it was not shadowed by a local variable. Then if you used "A value" === undefined, you would get true. And void 0 === undefined would produce false.

ECMAScript 5 changed this behavior, and now the property is not writable nor configurable. Therefore, assignments to undefined will be ignored in non-strict mode, and will throw an exception is strict mode. Under the hood,

1. undefined = "A value"; is a Simple Assignment
2. That uses PutValue to put the value "A value" in a reference with base the global object, referenced name "undefined", and strict flag if the assignment is made in strict mode.
3. It calls the [[Put]] internal method of the global object, passing "undefined" as the property name, "A value" as the value, and the strict flag as the throw flag.
4. It calls the [[DefineOwnProperty]] internal method of the global object, passing "undefined", the property descriptor {[[Value]]: "A value"}, and the throw flag as arguments.
5. It rejects, that is, throws a TypeError exception if the throw flag is true, otherwise returns false.

However, you are still able to declare local undefined variables:

(function() {   var undefined = "A value";   alert(undefined); // "A value"; })();