How to toggle a boolean?

Take it up a notch: Other toggling techniques

If flipping booleans were poker, then JavaScript has quite a few aces up its sleeve.

The XOR way to toggle booleans

When the boolean variable knows how to hide in a crowd of letters, the bitwise XOR operator (^=) comes to the rescue.

let thisVariableIsLongerThanMyPatience = true;
thisVariableIsLongerThanMyPatience ^= true; // Now false. That was faster than my patience.


Relying on a numeric understanding of booleans (0 for false, 1 for true), this method is consistent across major browsers.

Inequality, anyone?

The inequality operator can also be 'persuaded' to flip a boolean.

let isSunny = true;
isSunny = isSunny != true; // Now false, rain dance successful!


While less intuitive, this alternative holds its own in the toggling game.

A tale of ternary toggling

The ternary operator makes boolean toggling feel like a choose-your-own-adventure story.

let isOpen = true;
isOpen = isOpen ? false : true; // Now false. Sorry, we're closed!


Although verbose, some programmers enjoy the clarity it brings.

Handling those pesky edge cases

Dealing with values that are null or undefined? No worries, JavaScript's got you covered.

let doIExist = null;
doIExist = !(doIExist != false); // Now true. Existential crisis averted.


This unique dance with booleans ensures your code stays predictable even when initial values are not strictly true or false.

Best practices on toggling techniques

While playing with booleans, keep in mind these **pro **-tips.

• Simplicity first: Don't beat around the bush. Use logical NOT (!), unless you need to make things more interesting.
• Clarity is king: If it's hard to read, you're not doing it right. Be explicit.
• Avoid reinventing the wheel: A custom function for toggling booleans? We stick to the classics unless necessary.

Tips and tricks - becoming a toggle master

Toggle with caution! Here are some potential pitfalls and how to avoid them:

• Watch for falsy: 0, "", null, undefined, and NaN are falsy but not false. Know the difference.
• Consistency: Try to keep your boolean toggling uniform across your codebase.
• Debugging: Remember, a poorly placed toggle may lead to unexpected and usually undesired states.

Real-life scenarios in coding

Coding is always easier with practical examples, so here you go.

User-based feature toggling

let featureEnabled = checkUserSubscription(); // Returns a boolean
featureEnabled = !featureEnabled;
launchRocketIfEnabled(featureEnabled); // Please don't spam this 🚀


UI state management

let isModalOpen = false;
isModalOpen = !isModalOpen; // Toggle that modal!
updateModalVisibility(isModalOpen); // If only closing actual windows were this easy 🪟
