In JavaScript, functions are just objects. This means that you can attach functions to them, just as you can with any other object. Some defaults that come along with being a function are .toString(), bind(), call(), and apply(). We're going to tkae a closer look at two similar, but slightly different methods: call() and apply().

TL;DR

  • both methods invoke the function caller, using a context passed in as the first parameter
  • call takes a this context, and the arguments are passed with commas
  • apply takes a this context, and the arguments are passed as an Array

Why use either?

Using call or apply are ways to re-use some functionality. They provide us a way to borrow functions, so we can avoid code duplication. With either method, you can execute the function with a modified this context. When a function is called normally, it's this value is set normally (either the containing object or the global object).

var obj = { value: 10 }


function addToThis(x) {
  return this.value + x // `this` refers to the global object
}


console.log(addToThis(5)) // undefined, because `this.value` is undefined


// `call` or `apply` modifies the `this` context
console.log(addToThis.call(obj, 5)) // 15
console.log(addToThis.apply(obj, [5])) // 15

Choosing one over the other

call is a good choice when the arguments for a function are known.

var robert = {
  name: 'robert',
  greeting: function () {
    return 'my name is ' + this.name
  },
}


var robot = {
  name: 'ROB',
}


console.log(robert.greeting()) // 'my name is robert'
console.log(robert.greeting.call(robot)) // 'my name is ROB'

apply is a good choice when the function has an unknown amount of arguments. You can deconstruct the arguments yourself, and do whatever is necessary.

var robert = {
  name: 'robert',
  greeting: function () {
    var foodsArray = []
    var foodsStr


    for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
      foodsArray.push(arguments[i])
    }


    // insert oxford comma if necessary
    var length = foodsArray.length
    if (length === 1) {
      foodsStr = foodsArray[0]
    } else if (length == 2) {
      foodsStr = foodsArray.join(' and ')
    } else if (length > 2) {
      foodsArray[length - 1] = 'and ' + foodsArray[length - 1]
      foodsStr = foodsArray.join(', ')
    }


    return 'my name is ' + this.name + ', and i like to eat ' + foodsStr
  },
}


var robot = {
  name: 'ROB',
}


console.log(robert.greeting('pizza', 'hot dogs'))
// 'my name is robert, and i like to eat pizza and hot dogs'


console.log(robert.greeting.apply(robot, ['waffles', 'metal', 'humans']))
// 'my name is ROB, and i like to eat waffles, metal, and humans'

Note that I'm using a special JavaScript object here: arguments. arguments gives us access to all parameters passed in, specified or not. The robert.greeting method does not take any parameters, but we're still able to call it with a variable amount of parameters. It's important to also note that that although arguments has a length method, it is not an Array.

Using this knowledge, we can be clever about our usage of apply and use it to our advantage on some built-in JavaScript functions. Take Math.max(), for example. Math.max() takes arguments as comma separated values, and returns the max value. If we gave it an array, we'd get NaN, because an Array can't be converted into a number for the function. Instead, we can use apply in this form:

var numbers = [5, 3, 12, 1]


console.log(Math.max(numbers)) // NaN


// this translates to:
// Math.max(numbers[0], numbers[1], ...);
console.log(Math.max.apply(null, numbers)) // 12

Here, we don't need to invoke Math.max with any specific this. We just want to call the method using an array. With apply(), we can do just that, and avoid writing our own version of max() for arrays.

References