Function - Prototype.apply : Search
Function - Prototype.apply : Search
Function - Prototype.apply : Search
apply() | MDN
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Function.prototype.apply()
The apply() method calls a function with a given this value, and arguments provided as an
array (or an array-like object).
Note: While the syntax of this function is almost identical to that of call() , the
fundamental di erence is that call() accepts an argument list, while apply() accepts a
single array of arguments.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 1/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
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Syntax
function.apply(thisArg, [argsArray])
Parameters
thisArg
Optional. The value of this provided for the call to func . Note that this may not be the
actual value seen by the method: if the method is a function in non-strict mode code, null
and undefined will be replaced with the global object, and primitive values will be boxed.
argsArray
Optional. An array-like object, specifying the arguments with which func should be called,
or null or undefined if no arguments should be provided to the function. Starting with
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 2/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
ECMAScript 5 these arguments can be a generic array-like object instead of an array. See
below for browser compatibility information.
Return value
The result of calling the function with the specified this value and arguments.
Description
You can assign a different this object when calling an existing function. this refers to the
current object, the calling object. With apply , you can write a method once and then inherit it in
another object, without having to rewrite the method for the new object.
apply is very similar to call() , except for the type of arguments it supports. You use an
arguments array instead of a list of arguments (parameters). With apply , you can also use an
array literal, for example, func.apply(this, ['eat', 'bananas']) , or an Array object, for
example, func.apply(this, new Array('eat', 'bananas')) .
You can also use arguments for the argsArray parameter. arguments is a local variable of a
function. It can be used for all unspecified arguments of the called object. Thus, you do not
have to know the arguments of the called object when you use the apply method. You can use
arguments to pass all the arguments to the called object. The called object is then responsible
for handling the arguments.
Since ECMAScript 5th Edition you can also use any kind of object which is array-like, so in
practice, this means it's going to have a property length and integer properties in the range
(0..length-1) . As an example you can now use a NodeList or a custom object like {
'length': 2, '0': 'eat', '1': 'bananas' } .
Most browsers, including Chrome 14 and Internet Explorer 9, still do not accept array-like
objects and will throw an exception.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 3/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
Examples
Using apply to append an array to another
We can use push to append an element to an array. And, because push accepts a variable
number of arguments, we can also push multiple elements at once. But, if we pass an array to
push , it will actually add that array as a single element, instead of adding the elements
individually, so we end up with an array inside an array. What if that is not what we
want? concat does have the behaviour we want in this case, but it does not actually append to
the existing array but creates and returns a new array. But we wanted to append to our existing
array... So what now? Write a loop? Surely not?
3
4 // using Math.min/Math.max apply
5 var max = Math.max.apply(null, numbers);
6 // This about equal to Math.max(numbers[0], ...)
7 // or Math.max(5, 6, ...)
8
9 var min = Math.min.apply(null, numbers);
10
11 // vs. simple loop based algorithm
12 max = -Infinity, min = +Infinity;
13
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1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
13
14 for (var i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
15 if (numbers[i] > max) {
16 max = numbers[i];
17 }
18 if (numbers[i] < min) {
19 min = numbers[i];
20 }
21 }
But beware: in using apply this way, you run the risk of exceeding the JavaScript engine's
argument length limit. The consequences of applying a function with too many arguments (think
more than tens of thousands of arguments) vary across engines (JavaScriptCore has hard-
coded argument limit of 65536), because the limit (indeed even the nature of any
excessively-large-stack behavior) is unspecified. Some engines will throw an exception. More
perniciously, others will arbitrarily limit the number of arguments actually passed to the applied
function. To illustrate this latter case: if such an engine had a limit of four arguments (actual
limits are of course significantly higher), it would be as if the arguments 5, 6, 2, 3 had been
passed to apply in the examples above, rather than the full array.
If your value array might grow into the tens of thousands, use a hybrid strategy: apply your
function to chunks of the array at a time:
1 function minOfArray(arr) {
2 var min = Infinity;
3 var QUANTUM = 32768;
4
5 for (var i = 0, len = arr.length; i < len; i += QUANTUM) {
6 var submin = Math.min.apply(null,
7 arr.slice(i, Math.min(i+QUANTUM, len)));
8 min = Math.min(submin, min);
9 }
10
11 return min;
12 }
13
14 var min = minOfArray([5, 6, 2, 3, 7]);
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 5/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
1 Function.prototype.construct = function(aArgs) {
2 var oNew = Object.create(this.prototype);
3 this.apply(oNew, aArgs);
4 return oNew;
5 };
Note: The Object.create() method used above is relatively new. For alternative
methods, please consider one of the following approaches:
Using Object.__proto__ :
Example usage:
1 function MyConstructor() {
2 for (var nProp = 0; nProp < arguments.length; nProp++) {
3 this['property' + nProp] = arguments[nProp];
}
4 }
5
6 var myArray = [4, 'Hello world!', false];
7 var myInstance = MyConstructor.construct(myArray);
8
9 console.log(myInstance.property1); // logs 'Hello world!'
10 console.log(myInstance instanceof MyConstructor); // logs 'true'
11 console.log(myInstance.constructor); // logs 'MyConstructor'
12
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Note: This non-native Function.construct method will not work with some native
constructors; like Date , for example. In these cases you have to use the
Function.prototype.bind method. For example, imagine having an array like the
following, to be used with Date constructor: [2012, 11, 4] ; in this case you have to
write something like: new (Function.prototype.bind.apply(Date,
[null].concat([2012, 11, 4])))() . This is not the best way to do things, and
probably not to be used in any production environment.
Specifications
Specification Status Comment
Browser compatibility
Take this quick survey to help us improve our browser compatibility tables
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 7/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
Basic support
Chrome Yes
Edge Yes
Firefox 1
IE Yes
Opera Yes
Safari Yes
Firefox Android 4
nodejs Yes
Chrome Yes
Edge ?
Firefox 4
IE ?
Opera ?
Safari ?
WebView Android ?
Edge Mobile ?
Firefox Android 4
Opera Android ?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 8/9
1/17/2019 Function.prototype.apply() | MDN
Safari iOS ?
nodejs ?
Full support
Compatibility unknown
See also
arguments object
Function.prototype.bind()
Function.prototype.call()
Functions and function scope
Reflect.apply()
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply 9/9