Subtraction (-)

Baseline Widely available

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

The subtraction (-) operator subtracts the two operands, producing their difference.

Try it

console.log(5 - 3);
// Expected output: 2

console.log(3.5 - 5);
// Expected output: -1.5

console.log(5 - "hello");
// Expected output: NaN

console.log(5 - true);
// Expected output: 4

The - operator is overloaded for two types of operands: number and BigInt. It first coerces both operands to numeric values and tests the types of them. It performs BigInt subtraction if both operands become BigInts; otherwise, it performs number subtraction. A TypeError is thrown if one operand becomes a BigInt but the other becomes a number.

Examples

Subtraction using numbers

js
5 - 3; // 2
3 - 5; // -2

Other non-BigInt values are coerced to numbers:

js
"foo" - 3; // NaN; "foo" is converted to the number NaN
5 - "3"; // 2; "3" is converted to the number 3

Subtraction using BigInts

2n - 1n; // 1n

You cannot mix BigInt and number operands in subtraction.

js
2n - 1; // TypeError: Cannot mix BigInt and other types, use explicit conversions
2 - 1n; // TypeError: Cannot mix BigInt and other types, use explicit conversions

To do subtraction with a BigInt and a non-BigInt, convert either operand:

js
2n - BigInt(1); // 1n
Number(2n) - 1; // 1

Specifications

Specification

ECMAScript® 2027 Language Specification
# sec-subtraction-operator-minus

Browser compatibility

Enable JavaScript to view this browser compatibility table.

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This page was last modified on Jul 8, 2025 by MDN contributors.

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Subtraction (-)

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