Override function (e.g. "alert") and call the original function?

There is no "super". Anyway, create a closure to "keep" around the original function-object.

Note the "self invoking function" that returns a new function-object (that is assigned to the window.alert property). The new function-object returned creates a closure around the variable original which evaluates to the original value of window.alert that was passed in to the "self invoking function".

window.alert = (function (original) {
  return function (str) {
    //do something additional
    if(console) {
      console.log(str)
    }
    original(str)
  }
})(window.alert)

However, I believe some browsers may prevent alert and other built-ins from being modified...

Happy coding.

Store a reference to the original function in a variable:

(function() {
    var _alert = window.alert;                   // <-- Reference
    window.alert = function(str) {
        // do something additional
        if(console) console.log(str);
        //return _alert.apply(this, arguments);  // <-- The universal method
        _alert(str);                             // Suits for this case
    };
})();

The universal way is <original_func_reference>.apply(this, arguments) - To preserve context and pass all arguments. Usually, the return value of the original method should also be returned.

However, it's known that alert is a void function, takes only one argument, and does not use the this object. So, _alert(str) is sufficient in this case.

Note: IE <= 8 throws an error if you try to overwrite alert, so make sure that you're using window.alert = ... instead of alert = ....