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Why does `eval` work on non-strings?

I was playing around with eval

and noticed that it can evaluate non-line strings in Chrome, Firefox and Opera:

eval(Array) === Array; // true
eval(this) === this;   // true
eval(4 * 3 / 2) === 6; // true

Is this standard behavior? Is this documented anywhere? I can't seem to find any mention of eval

taking anything other than a string argument.

If this is not standard behavior, can someone identify host environments where this is not working?

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Without the line, the code is already being evaluated at a lower level, namely before it is passed to eval (for example, your last statement is just executing eval(6)

). This is the case for any function; this is how JavaScript code is evaluated. eval

is not magic in this sense, because it is "just" a function that "just" takes an argument.

What eval

should be returned when an am expression that is not a string is passed is described in the spec :



1. If Type ( x

) is not a string, return x

.

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