What does "coercion" mean in programming?

coercion is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.

Definition

Automatic or implicit conversion of a value from one type to another performed by the language at runtime. In JavaScript, adding a number to a string coerces the number into a string. Coercion can cause unexpected bugs.

Example

"console.log(1 + '2'); // '12' — JavaScript coerces 1 to a string"

Related terms

cast
type
convert
union

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