Check whether variable is number or string in JavaScript

If you're dealing with literal notation, and not constructors, you can use typeof:.

typeof "Hello World"; // string
typeof 123;           // number

If you're creating numbers and strings via a constructor, such as var foo = new String("foo"), you should keep in mind that typeof may return object for foo.

Perhaps a more foolproof method of checking the type would be to utilize the method found in underscore.js (annotated source can be found here),

var toString = Object.prototype.toString;

_.isString = function (obj) {
  return toString.call(obj) == '[object String]';
}

This returns a boolean true for the following:

_.isString("Jonathan"); // true
_.isString(new String("Jonathan")); // true

Best way to do that is using isNaN + type casting:

Updated all-in method:

function isNumber(n) { return !isNaN(parseFloat(n)) && !isNaN(n - 0) }

The same using regex:

function isNumber(n) { return /^-?[\d.]+(?:e-?\d+)?$/.test(n); } 

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isNumber('123'); // true  
isNumber('123abc'); // false  
isNumber(5); // true  
isNumber('q345'); // false
isNumber(null); // false
isNumber(undefined); // false
isNumber(false); // false
isNumber('   '); // false