Nested ifs not returning as expected

JavaScript
1

Hello! I got “stuck” kind of with the profile lookup challenge. I amended it to where I passed all of the tests, but I was curious about my original answer. Below is the given array:

var contacts = [
    {
        "firstName": "Akira",
        "lastName": "Laine",
        "number": "0543236543",
        "likes": ["Pizza", "Coding", "Brownie Points"]
    },
    {
        "firstName": "Harry",
        "lastName": "Potter",
        "number": "0994372684",
        "likes": ["Hogwarts", "Magic", "Hagrid"]
    },
    {
        "firstName": "Sherlock",
        "lastName": "Holmes",
        "number": "0487345643",
        "likes": ["Intriguing Cases", "Violin"]
    },
    {
        "firstName": "Kristian",
        "lastName": "Vos",
        "number": "unknown",
        "likes": ["JavaScript", "Gaming", "Foxes"]
    }
];

Here is the answer that I initially gave. This worked for every test, except when a name did exist but the property did not exist.

function lookUpProfile(name, prop){
// Only change code below this line
  for(var i = 0; i < contacts.length; i++){
    if(name === contacts[i]["firstName"]){
      if(prop === "number" || "likes" || "lastName"){
        return contacts[i][prop];
      } else {
        return "No such property";
      }
    }
  }
  return "No such contact";
// Only change code above this line
}

When I checked with a name that existed but a property that didn’t exist, nothing returned. I eventually separated

if(prop === "number" || "likes" || "lastName){
        return contacts[i][prop];
      } else {
        return "No such property";
      }

into

if(prop === "number"){
        return contacts[i][prop];
      } else if(prop === "likes"){
        return contacts[i][prop];
      } else if(prop === "lastName"){
        return contacts[i][prop];
      } else {
        return "No such property";
      }

And it worked. Is there a reason why the first section wouldn’t work with the || operator? Can you not use || with ===?

Thanks!

2 
prop === "number" || "likes" || "lastName"

As much as I wish it were, this isn’t a valid way to check equality. Here’s the code that would do what you were expecting:

prop === "number" || prop === "likes" || prop === "lastName"
1 Like