toBe(true) vs toBeTruthy() vs toBeTrue()

What I do when I wonder something like the question asked here is go to the source.

toBe()

expect().toBe() is defined as:

function toBe() {
  return {
    compare: function(actual, expected) {
      return {
        pass: actual === expected
      };
    }
  };
}

It performs its test with === which means that when used as expect(foo).toBe(true), it will pass only if foo actually has the value true. Truthy values won't make the test pass.

toBeTruthy()

expect().toBeTruthy() is defined as:

function toBeTruthy() {
  return {
    compare: function(actual) {
      return {
        pass: !!actual
      };
    }
  };
}

Type coercion

A value is truthy if the coercion of this value to a boolean yields the value true. The operation !! tests for truthiness by coercing the value passed to expect to a boolean. Note that contrarily to what the currently accepted answer implies, == true is not a correct test for truthiness. You'll get funny things like

> "hello" == true
false
> "" == true
false
> [] == true
false
> [1, 2, 3] == true
false

Whereas using !! yields:

> !!"hello"
true
> !!""
false
> !![1, 2, 3]
true
> !![] 
true

(Yes, empty or not, an array is truthy.)

toBeTrue()

expect().toBeTrue() is part of Jasmine-Matchers (which is registered on npm as jasmine-expect after a later project registered jasmine-matchers first).

expect().toBeTrue() is defined as:

function toBeTrue(actual) {
  return actual === true ||
    is(actual, 'Boolean') &&
    actual.valueOf();
}

The difference with expect().toBeTrue() and expect().toBe(true) is that expect().toBeTrue() tests whether it is dealing with a Boolean object. expect(new Boolean(true)).toBe(true) would fail whereas expect(new Boolean(true)).toBeTrue() would pass. This is because of this funny thing:

> new Boolean(true) === true
false
> new Boolean(true) === false
false

At least it is truthy:

> !!new Boolean(true)
true

Which is best suited for use with elem.isDisplayed()?

Ultimately Protractor hands off this request to Selenium. The documentation states that the value produced by .isDisplayed() is a promise that resolves to a boolean. I would take it at face value and use .toBeTrue() or .toBe(true). If I found a case where the implementation returns truthy/falsy values, I would file a bug report.

In javascript there are trues and truthys. When something is true it is obviously true or false. When something is truthy it may or may not be a boolean, but the "cast" value of is a boolean.

Examples.

true == true; // (true) true
1 == true; // (true) truthy
"hello" == true;  // (true) truthy
[1, 2, 3] == true; // (true) truthy
[] == false; // (true) truthy
false == false; // (true) true
0 == false; // (true) truthy
"" == false; // (true) truthy
undefined == false; // (true) truthy
null == false; // (true) truthy

This can make things simpler if you want to check if a string is set or an array has any values.

var users = [];

if(users) {
  // this array is populated. do something with the array
}

var name = "";

if(!name) {
  // you forgot to enter your name!
}

And as stated. expect(something).toBe(true) and expect(something).toBeTrue() is the same. But expect(something).toBeTruthy() is not the same as either of those.

Disclamer: This is just a wild guess

I know everybody loves an easy-to-read list:

• toBe(<value>) - The returned value is the same as <value>
• toBeTrue() - Checks if the returned value is true

• toBeTruthy() - Check if the value, when cast to a boolean, will be a truthy value

  Truthy values are all values that aren't 0, '' (empty string), false, null, NaN, undefined or [] (empty array)*.

  _{* Notice that when you run !![], it returns true, but when you run [] == false it also returns true. It depends on how it is implemented. In other words: (!![]) === ([] == false)}

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On your example, toBe(true) and toBeTrue() will yield the same results.