# The Object getPrototypeOf() method

> Learn how the JavaScript Object.getPrototypeOf() method returns the prototype of an object, and why it returns null for an object that has no prototype.

Author: Flavio Copes | Published: 2019-04-07 | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/javascript-object-getprototypeof/

Returns the prototype of an object.

Usage:

```js
Object.getPrototypeOf(obj)
```

Example:

```js
const animal = {}
const dog = Object.create(animal)
const prot = Object.getPrototypeOf(dog)

animal === prot //true
```

If the object has no prototype, we'll get `null`. This is the case of the Object object:

```js
Object.prototype //{}
Object.getPrototypeOf(Object.prototype) //null
```