Functions are one of the fundamental building blocks in JavaScript. A function in JavaScript is similar to a procedure—a set of statements that performs a task or calculates a value, but for a procedure to qualify as a function, it should take some input and return an output where there is some obvious relationship between the input and the output. To use a function, you must define it somewhere in the scope from which you wish to call it.
另请参阅 exhaustive reference chapter about JavaScript functions to get to know the details.
A
function definition
(also called a
函数声明
,或
function statement
) consists of the
function
keyword, followed by:
{...}
.
For example, the following code defines a simple function named
square
:
function square(number) {
return number * number;
}
The function
square
takes one parameter, called
number
. The function consists of one statement that says to return the parameter of the function (that is,
number
) multiplied by itself. The statement
return
specifies the value returned by the function:
return number * number;
Primitive parameters (such as a number) are passed to functions by value ; the value is passed to the function, but if the function changes the value of the parameter, this change is not reflected globally or in the calling function .
If you pass an object (i.e. a non-primitive value, such as
Array
or a user-defined object) as a parameter and the function changes the object's properties, that change is visible outside the function, as shown in the following example:
function myFunc(theObject) {
theObject.make = 'Toyota';
}
var mycar = {make: 'Honda', model: 'Accord', year: 1998};
var x, y;
x = mycar.make; // x gets the value "Honda"
myFunc(mycar);
y = mycar.make; // y gets the value "Toyota"
// (the make property was changed by the function)
While the function declaration above is syntactically a statement, functions can also be created by a 函数表达式 .
Such a function can be
anonymous
; it does not have to have a name. For example, the function
square
could have been defined as:
const square = function(number) { return number * number }
var x = square(4) // x gets the value 16
However, a name can be provided with a function expression. Providing a name allows the function to refer to itself, and also makes it easier to identify the function in a debugger's stack traces:
const factorial = function fac(n) { return n < 2 ? 1 : n * fac(n - 1) }
console.log(factorial(3))
Function expressions are convenient when passing a function as an argument to another function. The following example shows a
map
function that should receive a function as first argument and an array as second argument.
function map(f, a) {
let result = []; // Create a new Array
let i; // Declare variable
for (i = 0; i != a.length; i++)
result[i] = f(a[i]);
return result;
}
In the following code, the function receives a function defined by a function expression and executes it for every element of the array received as a second argument.
function map(f, a) {
let result = []; // Create a new Array
let i; // Declare variable
for (i = 0; i != a.length; i++)
result[i] = f(a[i]);
return result;
}
const f = function(x) {
return x * x * x;
}
let numbers = [0, 1, 2, 5, 10];
let cube = map(f,numbers);
console.log(cube);
Function returns:
[0, 1, 8, 125, 1000]
.
In JavaScript, a function can be defined based on a condition. For example, the following function definition defines
myFunc
only if
num
equals
0
:
var myFunc;
if (num === 0) {
myFunc = function(theObject) {
theObject.make = 'Toyota';
}
}
In addition to defining functions as described here, you can also use the
Function
constructor to create functions from a string at runtime, much like
eval()
.
A method is a function that is a property of an object. Read more about objects and methods in Working with objects .
Defining a function does not execute it. Defining it simply names the function and specifies what to do when the function is called.
调用
the function actually performs the specified actions with the indicated parameters. For example, if you define the function
square
, you could call it as follows:
square(5);
The preceding statement calls the function with an argument of
5
. The function executes its statements and returns the value
25
.
Functions must be in scope when they are called, but the function declaration can be hoisted (appear below the call in the code), as in this example:
console.log(square(5));
/* ... */
function square(n) { return n * n }
The scope of a function is the function in which it is declared (or the entire program, if it is declared at the top level).
注意:
This works only when defining the function using the above syntax (i.e.
function funcName(){}
). The code below will not work.
This means that function hoisting only works with function declarations —not with function expressions .
console.log(square) // square is hoisted with an initial value undefined.
console.log(square(5)) // Uncaught TypeError: square is not a function
const square = function(n) {
return n * n;
}
The arguments of a function are not limited to strings and numbers. You can pass whole objects to a function. The
show_props()
function (defined in
Working with objects
) is an example of a function that takes an object as an argument.
A function can call itself. For example, here is a function that computes factorials recursively:
function factorial(n) {
if ((n === 0) || (n === 1))
return 1;
else
return (n * factorial(n - 1));
}
You could then compute the factorials of
1
through
5
as follows:
var a, b, c, d, e; a = factorial(1); // a gets the value 1 b = factorial(2); // b gets the value 2 c = factorial(3); // c gets the value 6 d = factorial(4); // d gets the value 24 e = factorial(5); // e gets the value 120
There are other ways to call functions. There are often cases where a function needs to be called dynamically, or the number of arguments to a function vary, or in which the context of the function call needs to be set to a specific object determined at runtime.
It turns out that
functions are themselves objects
—and in turn, these objects have methods. (See the
Function
object.) One of these, the
apply()
method, can be used to achieve this goal.
Variables defined inside a function cannot be accessed from anywhere outside the function, because the variable is defined only in the scope of the function. However, a function can access all variables and functions defined inside the scope in which it is defined.
In other words, a function defined in the global scope can access all variables defined in the global scope. A function defined inside another function can also access all variables defined in its parent function, and any other variables to which the parent function has access.
// The following variables are defined in the global scope
var num1 = 20,
num2 = 3,
name = 'Chamahk';
// This function is defined in the global scope
function multiply() {
return num1 * num2;
}
multiply(); // Returns 60
// A nested function example
function getScore() {
var num1 = 2,
num2 = 3;
function add() {
return name + ' scored ' + (num1 + num2);
}
return add();
}
getScore(); // Returns "Chamahk scored 5"
A function can refer to and call itself. There are three ways for a function to refer to itself:
arguments.callee
For example, consider the following function definition:
var foo = function bar() {
// statements go here
}
Within the function body, the following are all equivalent:
bar()
arguments.callee()
foo()
A function that calls itself is called a recursive function . In some ways, recursion is analogous to a loop. Both execute the same code multiple times, and both require a condition (to avoid an infinite loop, or rather, infinite recursion in this case).
For example, the following loop...
var x = 0;
while (x < 10) { // "x < 10" is the loop condition
// do stuff
x++;
}
...can be converted into a recursive function declaration, followed by a call to that function:
function loop(x) {
if (x >= 10) // "x >= 10" is the exit condition (equivalent to "!(x < 10)")
return;
// do stuff
loop(x + 1); // the recursive call
}
loop(0);
However, some algorithms cannot be simple iterative loops. For example, getting all the nodes of a tree structure (such as the DOM ) is easier via recursion:
function walkTree(node) {
if (node == null) //
return;
// do something with node
for (var i = 0; i < node.childNodes.length; i++) {
walkTree(node.childNodes[i]);
}
}
Compared to the function
loop
, each recursive call itself makes many recursive calls here.
It is possible to convert any recursive algorithm to a non-recursive one, but the logic is often much more complex, and doing so requires the use of a stack.
In fact, recursion itself uses a stack: the function stack. The stack-like behavior can be seen in the following example:
function foo(i) {
if (i < 0)
return;
console.log('begin: ' + i);
foo(i - 1);
console.log('end: ' + i);
}
foo(3);
// Output:
// begin: 3
// begin: 2
// begin: 1
// begin: 0
// end: 0
// end: 1
// end: 2
// end: 3
You may nest a function within another function. The nested (inner) function is private to its containing (outer) function.
It also forms a closure . A closure is an expression (most commonly, a function) that can have free variables together with an environment that binds those variables (that "closes" the expression).
Since a nested function is a closure, this means that a nested function can "inherit" the arguments and variables of its containing function. In other words, the inner function contains the scope of the outer function.
To summarize:
The following example shows nested functions:
function addSquares(a, b) {
function square(x) {
return x * x;
}
return square(a) + square(b);
}
a = addSquares(2, 3); // returns 13
b = addSquares(3, 4); // returns 25
c = addSquares(4, 5); // returns 41
Since the inner function forms a closure, you can call the outer function and specify arguments for both the outer and inner function:
function outside(x) {
function inside(y) {
return x + y;
}
return inside;
}
fn_inside = outside(3); // Think of it like: give me a function that adds 3 to whatever you give
// it
result = fn_inside(5); // returns 8
result1 = outside(3)(5); // returns 8
Notice how
x
is preserved when
inside
is returned. A closure must preserve the arguments and variables in all scopes it references. Since each call provides potentially different arguments, a new closure is created for each call to
outside
. The memory can be freed only when the returned
inside
is no longer accessible.
This is not different from storing references in other objects, but is often less obvious because one does not set the references directly and cannot inspect them.
Functions can be multiply-nested. For example:
A
) contains a function (
B
), which itself contains a function (
C
).
B
and
C
form closures here. So,
B
can access
A
,和
C
can access
B
.
C
can access
B
which can access
A
,
C
can also access
A
.
Thus, the closures can contain multiple scopes; they recursively contain the scope of the functions containing it. This is called scope chaining . (The reason it is called "chaining" is explained later.)
Consider the following example:
function A(x) {
function B(y) {
function C(z) {
console.log(x + y + z);
}
C(3);
}
B(2);
}
A(1); // logs 6 (1 + 2 + 3)
在此范例中,
C
accesses
B
's
y
and
A
's
x
.
This can be done because:
B
forms a closure including
A
(i.e.
B
can access
A
's arguments and variables).
C
forms a closure including
B
.
B
's closure includes
A
,
C
's closure includes
A
,
C
can access
both
B
and
A
's arguments and variables. In other words,
C
chains
the scopes of
B
and
A
,
in that order
.
The reverse, however, is not true.
A
cannot access
C
, because
A
cannot access any argument or variable of
B
, which
C
is a variable of. Thus,
C
remains private to only
B
.
When two arguments or variables in the scopes of a closure have the same name, there is a name conflict . More nested scopes take precedence. So, the inner-most scope takes the highest precedence, while the outer-most scope takes the lowest. This is the scope chain. The first on the chain is the inner-most scope, and the last is the outer-most scope. Consider the following:
function outside() {
var x = 5;
function inside(x) {
return x * 2;
}
return inside;
}
outside()(10); // returns 20 instead of 10
The name conflict happens at the statement
return x
and is between
inside
's parameter
x
and
outside
's variable
x
. The scope chain here is {
inside
,
outside
, global object}. Therefore,
inside
's
x
takes precedences over
outside
's
x
,和
20
(
inside
's
x
) is returned instead of
10
(
outside
's
x
).
Closures are one of the most powerful features of JavaScript. JavaScript allows for the nesting of functions and grants the inner function full access to all the variables and functions defined inside the outer function (and all other variables and functions that the outer function has access to).
However, the outer function does not have access to the variables and functions defined inside the inner function. This provides a sort of encapsulation for the variables of the inner function.
Also, since the inner function has access to the scope of the outer function, the variables and functions defined in the outer function will live longer than the duration of the outer function execution, if the inner function manages to survive beyond the life of the outer function. A closure is created when the inner function is somehow made available to any scope outside the outer function.
var pet = function(name) { // The outer function defines a variable called "name"
var getName = function() {
return name; // The inner function has access to the "name" variable of the outer
//function
}
return getName; // Return the inner function, thereby exposing it to outer scopes
}
myPet = pet('Vivie');
myPet(); // Returns "Vivie"
It can be much more complex than the code above. An object containing methods for manipulating the inner variables of the outer function can be returned.
var createPet = function(name) {
var sex;
return {
setName: function(newName) {
name = newName;
},
getName: function() {
return name;
},
getSex: function() {
return sex;
},
setSex: function(newSex) {
if(typeof newSex === 'string' && (newSex.toLowerCase() === 'male' ||
newSex.toLowerCase() === 'female')) {
sex = newSex;
}
}
}
}
var pet = createPet('Vivie');
pet.getName(); // Vivie
pet.setName('Oliver');
pet.setSex('male');
pet.getSex(); // male
pet.getName(); // Oliver
In the code above, the
name
variable of the outer function is accessible to the inner functions, and there is no other way to access the inner variables except through the inner functions. The inner variables of the inner functions act as safe stores for the outer arguments and variables. They hold "persistent" and "encapsulated" data for the inner functions to work with. The functions do not even have to be assigned to a variable, or have a name.
var getCode = (function() {
var apiCode = '0]Eal(eh&2'; // A code we do not want outsiders to be able to modify...
return function() {
return apiCode;
};
})();
getCode(); // Returns the apiCode
Caution: There are a number of pitfalls to watch out for when using closures!
If an enclosed function defines a variable with the same name as a variable in the outer scope, then there is no way to refer to the variable in the outer scope again. (The inner scope variable "overrides" the outer one, until the program exits the inner scope.)
var createPet = function(name) { // The outer function defines a variable called "name".
return {
setName: function(name) { // The enclosed function also defines a variable called "name".
name = name; // How do we access the "name" defined by the outer function?
}
}
}
The arguments of a function are maintained in an array-like object. Within a function, you can address the arguments passed to it as follows:
arguments[i]
where
i
is the ordinal number of the argument, starting at
0
. So, the first argument passed to a function would be
arguments[0]
. The total number of arguments is indicated by
arguments.length
.
使用
arguments
object, you can call a function with more arguments than it is formally declared to accept. This is often useful if you don't know in advance how many arguments will be passed to the function. You can use
arguments.length
to determine the number of arguments actually passed to the function, and then access each argument using the
arguments
对象。
For example, consider a function that concatenates several strings. The only formal argument for the function is a string that specifies the characters that separate the items to concatenate. The function is defined as follows:
function myConcat(separator) {
var result = ''; // initialize list
var i;
// iterate through arguments
for (i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
result += arguments[i] + separator;
}
return result;
}
You can pass any number of arguments to this function, and it concatenates each argument into a string "list":
// returns "red, orange, blue, "
myConcat(', ', 'red', 'orange', 'blue');
// returns "elephant; giraffe; lion; cheetah; "
myConcat('; ', 'elephant', 'giraffe', 'lion', 'cheetah');
// returns "sage. basil. oregano. pepper. parsley. "
myConcat('. ', 'sage', 'basil', 'oregano', 'pepper', 'parsley');
注意:
arguments
variable is "array-like", but not an array. It is array-like in that it has a numbered index and a
length
property. However, it does
not
possess all of the array-manipulation methods.
见
Function
object in the JavaScript reference for more information.
Starting with ECMAScript 2015, there are two new kinds of parameters: 默认参数 and rest parameters .
In JavaScript, parameters of functions default to
undefined
. However, in some situations it might be useful to set a different default value. This is exactly what default parameters do.
In the past, the general strategy for setting defaults was to test parameter values in the body of the function and assign a value if they are
undefined
.
In the following example, if no value is provided for
b
, its value would be
undefined
when evaluating
a*b
, and a call to
multiply
would normally have returned
NaN
. However, this is prevented by the second line in this example:
function multiply(a, b) {
b = typeof b !== 'undefined' ? b : 1;
return a * b;
}
multiply(5); // 5
With
默认参数
, a manual check in the function body is no longer necessary. You can simply put
1
as the default value for
b
in the function head:
function multiply(a, b = 1) {
return a * b;
}
multiply(5); // 5
For more details, see 默认参数 in the reference.
其余参数 句法允许将不定数目的自变量表示成数组。
In the following example, the function
multiply
使用
rest parameters
to collect arguments from the second one to the end. The function then multiplies these by the first argument.
function multiply(multiplier, ...theArgs) {
return theArgs.map(x => multiplier * x);
}
var arr = multiply(2, 1, 2, 3);
console.log(arr); // [2, 4, 6]
An
箭头函数表达式
(previously, and now incorrectly known as
fat arrow function
) has a shorter syntax compared to function expressions and does not have its own
this
,
arguments
,
super
,或
new.target
. Arrow functions are always anonymous. See also this hacks.mozilla.org blog post: "
ES6 In Depth: Arrow functions
".
Two factors influenced the introduction of arrow functions:
shorter functions
and
non-binding
of
this
.
In some functional patterns, shorter functions are welcome. Compare:
var a = [
'Hydrogen',
'Helium',
'Lithium',
'Beryllium'
];
var a2 = a.map(function(s) { return s.length; });
console.log(a2); // logs [8, 6, 7, 9]
var a3 = a.map(s => s.length);
console.log(a3); // logs [8, 6, 7, 9]
this
Until arrow functions, every new function defined its own
this
value (a new object in the case of a constructor, undefined in
严格模式
function calls, the base object if the function is called as an "object method", etc.). This proved to be less than ideal with an object-oriented style of programming.
function Person() {
// The Person() constructor defines `this` as itself.
this.age = 0;
setInterval(function growUp() {
// In nonstrict mode, the growUp() function defines `this`
// as the global object, which is different from the `this`
// defined by the Person() constructor.
this.age++;
}, 1000);
}
var p = new Person();
In ECMAScript 3/5, this issue was fixed by assigning the value in
this
to a variable that could be closed over.
function Person() {
var self = this; // Some choose `that` instead of `self`.
// Choose one and be consistent.
self.age = 0;
setInterval(function growUp() {
// The callback refers to the `self` variable of which
// the value is the expected object.
self.age++;
}, 1000);
}
Alternatively, a
bound function
could be created so that the proper
this
value would be passed to the
growUp()
函数。
An arrow function does not have its own
this;
the
this
value of the enclosing execution context is used. Thus, in the following code, the
this
within the function that is passed to
setInterval
has the same value as
this
in the enclosing function:
function Person() {
this.age = 0;
setInterval(() => {
this.age++; // |this| properly refers to the person object
}, 1000);
}
var p = new Person();
JavaScript has several top-level, built-in functions:
eval()
eval()
method evaluates JavaScript code represented as a string.
uneval()
uneval()
method creates a string representation of the source code of an
Object
.
isFinite()
全局
isFinite()
function determines whether the passed value is a finite number. If needed, the parameter is first converted to a number.
isNaN()
isNaN()
function determines whether a value is
NaN
or not. Note: coercion inside the
isNaN
function has
interesting
rules; you may alternatively want to use
Number.isNaN()
, as defined in ECMAScript 2015, or you can use
typeof
to determine if the value is Not-A-Number.
parseFloat()
parseFloat()
function parses a string argument and returns a floating point number.
parseInt()
parseInt()
function parses a string argument and returns an integer of the specified radix (the base in mathematical numeral systems).
decodeURI()
decodeURI()
function decodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) previously created by
encodeURI
or by a similar routine.
decodeURIComponent()
decodeURIComponent()
method decodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component previously created by
encodeURIComponent
or by a similar routine.
encodeURI()
encodeURI()
method encodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) by replacing each instance of certain characters by one, two, three, or four escape sequences representing the UTF-8 encoding of the character (will only be four escape sequences for characters composed of two "surrogate" characters).
encodeURIComponent()
encodeURIComponent()
method encodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component by replacing each instance of certain characters by one, two, three, or four escape sequences representing the UTF-8 encoding of the character (will only be four escape sequences for characters composed of two "surrogate" characters).
escape()
The deprecated
escape()
method computes a new string in which certain characters have been replaced by a hexadecimal escape sequence. Use
encodeURI
or
encodeURIComponent
代替。
unescape()
The deprecated
unescape()
method computes a new string in which hexadecimal escape sequences are replaced with the character that it represents. The escape sequences might be introduced by a function like
escape
. Because
unescape()
is deprecated, use
decodeURI()
or
decodeURIComponent
代替。