What is the meaning of this code (0, function) in javascript
JavascriptJavascript Problem Overview
I found this code in someone's code, it sound like this:
(0, function (arg) { ... })(this)
After I try to play around like below,
(0, function (arg) { console.log(arg) })(2);
console.log((0, 1, 2, 3));
(0, function plus1 (arg) { console.log(arg + 1) }, function plus2 (arg) { console.log(arg + 2) })(5);
I found that it will always return last item in the bracket.
I wonder what is the name of this programming pattern and what is the use case?
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
In this particular case it seems superfluous, but sometimes this approach is useful.
For example, with eval
:
(function() {
(0,eval)("var foo = 123"); // indirect call to eval, creates global variable
})();
console.log(foo); // 123
(function() {
eval("var bar = 123"); // direct call to eval, creates local variable
})();
console.log(bar); // ReferenceError
It's also useful when you want to call a method without passing the object as the this
value:
var obj = {
method: function() { return this; }
};
console.log(obj.method() === obj); // true
console.log((0,obj.method)() === obj); // false
Also note that, depending on the context, it might be the arguments separator instead of a comma operator:
console.log(
function(a, b) {
return function() { return a; };
}
(0, function (arg) { /* ... */ })(this)
); // 0
Solution 2 - Javascript
It is a comma operator wrapped with a self-executing anonymous function. However, I have no idea as to why the meaningless 0
was included except for obfuscation purposes.
Solution 3 - Javascript
typical example could be,
for(var i=0,j=10; i < j; i++){
// code ...
}
comma operator would evaluate expressions from left-to-right and return result of right most expression
// e.g.
var a = 1, b= 2, c = 3, d = function(){ console.log("a => " + a) }()