Map[Symbol.species]

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2016.

The Map[Symbol.species] static accessor property is an unused accessor property specifying how to copy Map objects.

Syntax

js
Map[Symbol.species]

Return value

The value of the constructor (this) on which get [Symbol.species] was called. The return value is used to construct copied Map instances.

Description

The [Symbol.species] accessor property returns the default constructor for Map objects. Subclass constructors may override it to change the constructor assignment.

Note: This property is currently unused by all Map methods.

Examples

Species in ordinary objects

The [Symbol.species] property returns the default constructor function, which is the Map constructor for Map.

js
Map[Symbol.species]; // function Map()

Species in derived objects

In an instance of a custom Map subclass, such as MyMap, the MyMap species is the MyMap constructor. However, you might want to overwrite this, in order to return parent Map objects in your derived class methods:

js
class MyMap extends Map {
  // Overwrite MyMap species to the parent Map constructor
  static get [Symbol.species]() {
    return Map;
  }
}

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2027 Language Specification
# sec-get-map-%symbol.species%

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile server
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Bun
Deno
Node.js
[Symbol.species]
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 51 (Release date: 2016-05-25)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 13 (Release date: 2015-11-12)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 38 (Release date: 2016-06-08)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 10 (Release date: 2016-09-20)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 51 (Release date: 2016-06-08)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 41 (Release date: 2016-10-25)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 5 (Release date: 2016-12-15)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 51 (Release date: 2016-06-08)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1 (Release date: 2020-05-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 6.5 (Release date: 2016-08-26)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also