this value in JavaScript anonymous function
Inside of your anonymous function this
is the global object.
Inside of test
, this is the instance of MyObject
on which the method was invoked.
Whenever you call a function like this:
somceFunction(); // called function invocation
this
is always the global object, or undefined
in strict mode (unless someFunction
was created with bind
** — see below)
Whenever you call a function like this
foo.someMethod(); //called method invocation
this
is set to foo
**EcmaScript5 defines a bind
function that allows you to create a function that has a pre-set value for this
So this
var obj = { a: 12 };
var someFunction = (function () { alert(this.a); }).bind(obj);
someFunction();
Causes someFucntion
to be invoked with this
equal to obj
, and alerts 12. I bring this up only to note that this is a potential exception to the rule I mentioned about functions invoked as
someFunction();
always having this
equal to the global object (or undefined
in strict mode)
this
is special. It refers to the object that the function is being called on behalf of (most commonly via dot syntax).
So, in the case of A
, the function is being called on behalf of a new MyObject
object. B
is in a different function that isn't explicitly being called on behalf of any object, so this
defaults to the global object (window
).
In other words, this
changes depending on how the function is called, not where or how it is defined. The fact that you're using an anonymous function (defined inside another function) is coincidental and has no effect on the value of this
.