Tell me more ×
Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite
2

I defined a function that can take any number of arguments but none is required:

function MyFunction() { //can take 0, 1, 1000, 10000, n arguments
//function code
}

Now i would like to write another function that call MyFunction with a variable number of arguments each time:

function Caller(n) {
var simple_var = "abc";
MyFunction() //how can i pass simple_var to MyFunction n times?
}

Thanks in advance :)

share|improve this question
1  
You should not name your functions uppercase as long as they are no constructors. – Bergi Apr 27 '12 at 10:56
Thanks for the tip! – Stefano Apr 27 '12 at 11:41

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Function.apply can be used to pass an array of arguments to a function as if each element in the array had been passed as an individual argument:

function Caller(n) {
   var simple_var = "abc";

   // create an array with "n" copies of the var
   var args = [];
   for (var i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
      args.push(simple_var);
   }

   // use Function.apply to send that array to "MyFunction"
   MyFunction.apply(this, args);
}

Worth to say, argument length is limited to 65536 on webkit.

share|improve this answer
2  
1. Use args[args.length] instead of args.push() 2. Your solution submits an array as parameter, not n different parameters. – Amberlamps Apr 27 '12 at 10:56
2  
@Amberlamps - apply is used for this very situation. It will submit n arguments – Jibi Abraham Apr 27 '12 at 10:59
@Jibi Abraham: You are right! My mistake! – Amberlamps Apr 27 '12 at 11:00
1  
@Alnitak: I stand corrected! You were right! – Amberlamps Apr 27 '12 at 11:01
1  
@Amberlamps also there's negligible performance difference between array.push() and args[args.length] - see jsperf.com/array-push-and-append-by-index – Alnitak Apr 27 '12 at 11:07
show 4 more comments
up vote -3 down vote

You can use eval (I know, eval is evil).

In for loop construct string:

var myCall = "Myfunction(abc, abc, abc)";

and then pass it to eval

function Caller(n) {
var simple_var = "abc";
  eval(myCall);
}
share|improve this answer
1  
never, ever, ever, use eval. – Alnitak Apr 27 '12 at 11:05

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.