Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Remainder

The remainder operator (%) returns the remainder left over when one operand is divided by a second operand. It always takes the sign of the dividend.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

Note that while in most languages, ‘%’ is a remainder operator, in some (e.g. Python, Perl) it is a modulo operator. For positive values, the two are equivalent, but when the dividend and divisor are of different signs, they give different results. To obtain a modulo in JavaScript, in place of a % n, use ((a % n ) + n ) % n.

Syntax

Operator: var1 % var2

Examples

Remainder with positive dividend

 12 % 5  //  2
 1 % -2 //  1
 1 % 2  //  1
 2 % 3  //  2
5.5 % 2 // 1.5

Remainder with negative dividend

-12 % 5 // -2
-1 % 2  // -1
-4 % 2  // -0

Remainder with NaN

NaN % 2 // NaN

Remainder with Infinity

Infinity % 2 // NaN
Infinity % 0 // NaN
Infinity % Infinity // NaN

Specifications

Specification

ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'Remainder operator' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
Remainder (`%`)	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 3	Opera Full support 3	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support 0.1.100

Legend

Full support: Full support