[javascript] How to display all methods of an object?

I want to know how to list all methods available for an object like for example:

 alert(show_all_methods(Math));

This should print:

abs, acos, asin, atan, atan2, ceil, cos, exp, floor, log, max, min, pow, random,round, sin, sqrt, tan, …

This question is related to javascript object methods

The answer is


You can use Object.getOwnPropertyNames() to get all properties that belong to an object, whether enumerable or not. For example:

console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyNames(Math));
//-> ["E", "LN10", "LN2", "LOG2E", "LOG10E", "PI", ...etc ]

You can then use filter() to obtain only the methods:

console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyNames(Math).filter(function (p) {
    return typeof Math[p] === 'function';
}));
//-> ["random", "abs", "acos", "asin", "atan", "ceil", "cos", "exp", ...etc ]

In ES3 browsers (IE 8 and lower), the properties of built-in objects aren't enumerable. Objects like window and document aren't built-in, they're defined by the browser and most likely enumerable by design.

From ECMA-262 Edition 3:

Global Object
There is a unique global object (15.1), which is created before control enters any execution context. Initially the global object has the following properties:

• Built-in objects such as Math, String, Date, parseInt, etc. These have attributes { DontEnum }.
• Additional host defined properties. This may include a property whose value is the global object itself; for example, in the HTML document object model the window property of the global object is the global object itself.

As control enters execution contexts, and as ECMAScript code is executed, additional properties may be added to the global object and the initial properties may be changed.

I should point out that this means those objects aren't enumerable properties of the Global object. If you look through the rest of the specification document, you will see most of the built-in properties and methods of these objects have the { DontEnum } attribute set on them.


Update: a fellow SO user, CMS, brought an IE bug regarding { DontEnum } to my attention.

Instead of checking the DontEnum attribute, [Microsoft] JScript will skip over any property in any object where there is a same-named property in the object's prototype chain that has the attribute DontEnum.

In short, beware when naming your object properties. If there is a built-in prototype property or method with the same name then IE will skip over it when using a for...in loop.


It's not possible with ES3 as the properties have an internal DontEnum attribute which prevents us from enumerating these properties. ES5, on the other hand, provides property descriptors for controlling the enumeration capabilities of properties so user-defined and native properties can use the same interface and enjoy the same capabilities, which includes being able to see non-enumerable properties programmatically.

The getOwnPropertyNames function can be used to enumerate over all properties of the passed in object, including those that are non-enumerable. Then a simple typeof check can be employed to filter out non-functions. Unfortunately, Chrome is the only browser that it works on currently.

?function getAllMethods(object) {
    return Object.getOwnPropertyNames(object).filter(function(property) {
        return typeof object[property] == 'function';
    });
}

console.log(getAllMethods(Math));

logs ["cos", "pow", "log", "tan", "sqrt", "ceil", "asin", "abs", "max", "exp", "atan2", "random", "round", "floor", "acos", "atan", "min", "sin"] in no particular order.


I believe there's a simple historical reason why you can't enumerate over methods of built-in objects like Array for instance. Here's why:

Methods are properties of the prototype-object, say Object.prototype. That means that all Object-instances will inherit those methods. That's why you can use those methods on any object. Say .toString() for instance.

So IF methods were enumerable, and I would iterate over say {a:123} with: "for (key in {a:123}) {...}" what would happen? How many times would that loop be executed?

It would be iterated once for the single key 'a' in our example. BUT ALSO once for every enumerable property of Object.prototype. So if methods were enumerable (by default), then any loop over any object would loop over all its inherited methods as well.


The other answers here work for something like Math, which is a static object. But they don't work for an instance of an object, such as a date. I found the following to work:

function getMethods(o) {
  return Object.getOwnPropertyNames(Object.getPrototypeOf(o))
    .filter(m => 'function' === typeof o[m])
}
//example: getMethods(new Date()):  [ 'getFullYear', 'setMonth', ... ]

https://jsfiddle.net/3xrsead0/

This won't work for something like the original question (Math), so pick your solution based on your needs. I'm posting this here because Google sent me to this question but I was wanting to know how to do this for instances of objects.


var methods = [];
for (var m in obj) {
    if (typeof obj[m] == "function") {
        methods.push(m);
    }
}
alert(methods.join(","));

This way, you will get all methods that you can call on obj. This includes the methods that it "inherits" from its prototype (like getMethods() in java). If you only want to see those methods defined directly by obj you can check with hasOwnProperty:

var methods = [];
for (var m in obj) {        
    if (typeof obj[m] == "function" && obj.hasOwnProperty(m)) {
        methods.push(m);
    }
}
alert(methods.join(","));

Math has static method where you can call directly like Math.abs() while Date has static method like Date.now() and also instance method where you need to create new instance first var time = new Date() to call time.getHours().

// The instance method of Date can be found on `Date.prototype` so you can just call:
var keys = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(Date.prototype);

// And for the static method
var keys = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(Date);

// But if the instance already created you need to
// pass its constructor
var time = new Date();
var staticKeys = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(time.constructor);
var instanceKeys = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(time.constructor.prototype);

Of course you will need to filter the obtained keys for the static method to get actual method names, because you can also get length, name that aren't a function on the list.

But how if we want to obtain all available method from class that extend another class?
Of course you will need to scan through the root of prototype like using __proto__. For saving your time you can use script below to get static method and deep method instance.

_x000D_
_x000D_
// var keys = new Set();_x000D_
function getStaticMethods(keys, clas){_x000D_
    var keys2 = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(clas);_x000D_
_x000D_
    for(var i = 0; i < keys2.length; i++){_x000D_
        if(clas[keys2[i]].constructor === Function)_x000D_
            keys.add(keys2[i]);_x000D_
    }_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
function getPrototypeMethods(keys, clas){_x000D_
    if(clas.prototype === void 0)_x000D_
        return;_x000D_
_x000D_
    var keys2 = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(clas.prototype);_x000D_
    for (var i = keys2.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {_x000D_
        if(keys2[i] !== 'constructor')_x000D_
            keys.add(keys2[i]);_x000D_
    }_x000D_
_x000D_
    var deep = Object.getPrototypeOf(clas);_x000D_
    if(deep.prototype !== void 0)_x000D_
        getPrototypeMethods(keys, deep);_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
// ====== Usage example ======_x000D_
// To avoid duplicate on deeper prototype we use `Set`_x000D_
var keys = new Set();_x000D_
getStaticMethods(keys, Date);_x000D_
getPrototypeMethods(keys, Date);_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(Array.from(keys));
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

If you want to obtain methods from created instance, don't forget to pass the constructor of it.


Most modern browser support console.dir(obj), which will return all the properties of an object that it inherited through its constructor. See Mozilla's documentation for more info and current browser support.

console.dir(Math)
=> MathConstructor
E: 2.718281828459045
LN2: 0.6931471805599453
...
tan: function tan() { [native code] }
__proto__: Object

The short answer is you can't because Math and Date (off the top of my head, I'm sure there are others) are't normal objects. To see this, create a simple test script:

<html>
  <body>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      $(function() {
        alert("Math: " + Math);
        alert("Math: " + Math.sqrt);
        alert("Date: " + Date);
        alert("Array: " + Array);
        alert("jQuery: " + jQuery);
        alert("Document: " + document);
        alert("Document: " + document.ready);
      });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

You see it presents as an object the same ways document does overall, but when you actually try and see in that object, you see that it's native code and something not exposed the same way for enumeration.


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