The Modulus Operator in JavaScript
The remainder operator, returns the remainder when the first operand is divided by the second operand. It is also sometimes called the modulus operator, although technically the modulus operator is a different concept.
A handy analogy for the remainder operator is buying things: if widgets cost $3 and you have $7,
you can buy at most 2 widgets. Then you'll have $1 remaining. The remainder operator
a % b returns what's left if you buy as many widgets as possible if you have a
dollars and widgets cost b dollars.
7 % 3; // 1In English, a % b is often spoken as "a mod b".
The remainder operator has several neat uses:
Is A Number Odd or Even?
An integer n is even if it is
divisible by 2. The remainder operator returns 0 if a is divisible by b.
In other words, checking if a number is even is equivalent to checking if n % 2 === 0.
function isEven(n) {
return n % 2 === 0;
}
isEven(5); // false
isEven(7.6); // false
isEven(8); // trueSimilarly, n is odd if and only if n % 2 === 1.
function isOdd(n) {
return n % 2 === 0;
}
isEven(5); // false
isEven(7.6); // false
isEven(8); // trueThe Fractional Part of a Number
Say you have a number 2.5 and you want to get just the part of the number
after the decimal point 0.5. The most concise way to do this is to take
the number mod 1.
function getFractionalPart(n) {
return n % 1;
}
getFractionalPart(2.5); // 0.5Converting Minutes to Hours
The remainder operator is handy for basic date arithmetic that you don't want to
pull in a heavy library for. For example, if you're given a number n that represents
a number of minutes (potentially more than 60) and you want to convert it to hours
and minutes, you could do something like this:
const minutesToHoursAndMinutes = n => ({
hours: Math.floor(n / 60),
minutes: n % 60
});
minutesToHoursAndMinutes(59); // { hours: 0, minutes: 59 }
minutesToHoursAndMinutes(62); // { hours: 1, minutes: 2 }
minutesToHoursAndMinutes(123); // { hours: 2, minutes: 3 }Remainder vs Modulus
Modulus is a related concept, but handles negative numbers differently. For example, -21 % 5 === -1, because the remainder always takes the sign of the left number. However, a true modulus operator would always return a positive value,
so 21 modulo 5 would equal 4. In practice, you are unlikely to use the remainder
operator on negative values, and many JavaScript developers aren't aware of the
difference.