Symbol.keyFor()

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2015.

The Symbol.keyFor() static method retrieves a shared symbol key from the global symbol registry for the given symbol.

Try it

const globalSym = Symbol.for("foo"); // Global symbol

console.log(Symbol.keyFor(globalSym));
// Expected output: "foo"

const localSym = Symbol(); // Local symbol

console.log(Symbol.keyFor(localSym));
// Expected output: undefined

console.log(Symbol.keyFor(Symbol.iterator));
// Expected output: undefined

Syntax

js
Symbol.keyFor(sym)

Parameters

sym

Symbol, required. The symbol to find a key for.

Return value

A string representing the key for the given symbol if one is found on the global registry; otherwise, undefined.

Examples

Using keyFor()

js
const globalSym = Symbol.for("foo"); // create a new global symbol
Symbol.keyFor(globalSym); // "foo"

const localSym = Symbol();
Symbol.keyFor(localSym); // undefined

// well-known symbols are not symbols registered
// in the global symbol registry
Symbol.keyFor(Symbol.iterator); // undefined

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2027 Language Specification
# sec-symbol.keyfor

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
keyFor
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 40 (Release date: 2015-01-21)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 36 (Release date: 2015-02-24)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 27 (Release date: 2015-01-27)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 9 (Release date: 2015-09-30)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 40 (Release date: 2015-01-21)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 36 (Release date: 2015-02-27)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 27 (Release date: 2015-01-29)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 9 (Release date: 2015-09-16)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 4 (Release date: 2016-03-11)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 40 (Release date: 2015-01-21)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 9 (Release date: 2015-09-16)
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 0.12 (Release date: 2015-02-06)
footnote Full support

Legend

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Full support
Full support

See also