# is [](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/is)
> Type check values: `is.string('🦄') //=> true`
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## Install
```
$ npm install @sindresorhus/is
```
## Usage
```js
const is = require('@sindresorhus/is');
is('🦄');
//=> 'string'
is(new Map());
//=> 'Map'
is.number(6);
//=> true
```
## API
### is(value)
Returns the type of `value`.
Primitives are lowercase and object types are camelcase.
Example:
-`'undefined'`
-`'null'`
-`'string'`
-`'symbol'`
-`'Array'`
-`'Function'`
-`'Object'`
Note: It will throw if you try to feed it object-wrapped primitives, as that's a bad practice. For example `new String('foo')`.
### is.{method}
All the below methods accept a value and returns a boolean for whether the value is of the desired type.
#### Primitives
##### .undefined(value)
##### .null(value)
##### .string(value)
##### .number(value)
##### .boolean(value)
##### .symbol(value)
#### Built-in types
##### .array(value)
##### .function(value)
##### .buffer(value)
##### .object(value)
Keep in mind that [functions are objects too](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions).
##### .regExp(value)
##### .date(value)
##### .error(value)
##### .nativePromise(value)
##### .promise(value)
Returns `true` for any object with a `.then()` and `.catch()` method. Prefer this one over `.nativePromise()` as you usually want to allow userland promise implementations too.
There are hundreds of type checking modules on npm, unfortunately, I couldn't find any that fit my needs:
- Includes both type methods and ability to get the type
- Types of primitives returned as lowercase and object types as camelcase
- Covers all built-ins
- Unsurprising behavior
- Well-maintained
- Comprehensive test suite
For the ones I found, pick 3 of these.
The most common mistakes I noticed in these modules was using `instanceof` for type checking, forgetting that functions are objects, and omitting `symbol` as a primitive.
## Related
- [is-stream](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-stream) - Check if something is a Node.js stream
- [is-observable](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-observable) - Check if a value is an Observable
- [file-type](https://github.com/sindresorhus/file-type) - Detect the file type of a Buffer/Uint8Array
- [is-ip](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-ip) - Check if a string is an IP address
- [is-array-sorted](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-array-sorted) - Check if an Array is sorted
- [is-error-constructor](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-error-constructor) - Check if a value is an error constructor
- [is-empty-iterable](https://github.com/sindresorhus/is-empty-iterable) - Check if an Iterable is empty