Adds numeric expressions. If both expressions are integers, the sum is an integer; if either or both expressions are floating-point numbers, the sum is a floating-point number.

If one expression is a string, all other expressions are converted to strings and concatenated instead of summed. Otherwise, if an expression is not a number, Flash^® Player converts it to a number.

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 + expression2. For example, the following two statements have the same result:

x += y; 
x = x + y; 

See also

myArray = [a0, a1,...aN]
myArray[i] = value 
myObject[propertyName]

Initializes a new array or multidimensional array with the specified elements (a0, and so on), or accesses elements in an array. The array access operator lets you dynamically set and retrieve instance, variable, and object names. It also lets you access object properties.

Usage 1: An array is an object whose properties are called elements, which are each identified by a number called an index. When you create an array, you surround the elements with the array access ([]) operator (or brackets). An array can contain elements of various types. For example, the following array, called employee, has three elements; the first is a number and the second two are strings (inside quotation marks):

var employee:Array = [15, "Barbara", "Jay"]; 

var ticTacToe:Array = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]; 
			
/* Select Debug > List Variables in test mode 
to see a list of the array elements.*/ 

var my_array:Array = new Array(); 
my_array[0] = 15; 
my_array[1] = "Hello"; 
my_array[2] = true; 

my_array[3] = "George"; 

var ticTacToe:Array = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]; 
trace(ticTacToe[1][2]); // 6 

var obj:Object = new Object();
obj.prop1 = "foo";
trace(obj["prop" + 1]); // foo
obj.prop2 = "bar";
for (j in obj) {
	trace(obj[j]);
} 
/* Output of for loop: 
foo
bar */

See also

Evaluates whether an expression specified by the first operand is a member of the data type specified by the second operand. If the first operand is a member of the data type, the result is the first operand. Otherwise, the result is the value null.

The expression used for the second operand must evaluate to a data type.

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Assigns the value of expression2 (the operand on the right) to the variable, array element, or property in expression1. Assignment can be either by value or by reference. Assignment by value copies the actual value of expression2 and stores it in expression1. Assignment by value is used when expression2 is a primitive value, which means that its data type is either Boolean, Number, int, uint, or String. Assignment by reference stores a reference to expression2 in expression1. Assignment by reference is commonly used with the new operator. The new operator creates an object in memory, and a reference to that location in memory is assigned to a variable.

Note: In ActionScript 3.0 all values (including primitive values) are objects, and all assignment is done by reference, but primitive objects have special operators that allow them to behave as if they are assigned by value.

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 myXML.@attributeName 

Identifies attributes of an XML or XMLList object. For example, myXML.@id identifies attributes named id for the myXML XML object. You can also use the following syntax to access attributes: myXML.attribute("id"), myXML["@id"], and myXML.@["id"]. The syntax myXML.@id is recommended. To return an XMLList object of all attribute names, use @*. To return an attribute with a name that matches an ActionScript reserved word, use the attribute() method instead of the @ operator.

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Converts expression1 and expression2 to 32-bit unsigned integers, and performs a Boolean AND operation on each bit of the integer parameters. Floating-point numbers are converted to integers by discarding any digits after the decimal point. The result is a new 32-bit integer.

A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 & expression2. For example, the following two expressions are equivalent:

x &= y; 
x = x & y; 

See also

Converts expression1 and shiftCount to 32-bit integers, and shifts all the bits in expression1 to the left by the number of places specified by the integer resulting from the conversion of shiftCount. The bit positions that are emptied as a result of this operation are filled in with 0 and bits shifted off the left end are discarded. Shifting a value left by one position is the equivalent of multiplying it by 2.

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

If the result is a negative integer, a runtime error occurs if you attempt to assign the result to a variable of type uint. Although ActionScript has no "unsigned bitwise left shift" operator, you can achieve the same effect, and avoid the runtime error, by using uint(expression1 << shiftCount):

var num1:uint = 0xFF;
var num2:uint = uint(num1 << 24); // uint() prevents runtime error

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Performs a bitwise left shift (<<=) operation and stores the contents as a result in expression1. The following two expressions are equivalent:

A <<= B
A = (A << B)

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Converts expression to a 32-bit signed integer, and then applies a bitwise one's complement. That is, every bit that is a 0 is set to 1 in the result, and every bit that is a 1 is set to 0 in the result. The result is a signed 32-bit integer. This operator is also known as the one's complement operator or the bitwise complement operator.

For example, the hexadecimal value 0x7777 is represented as this binary number:

0111011101110111

The bitwise negation of that hexadecimal value, ~0x7777, is this binary number:

1000100010001000

In hexadecimal, this is 0x8888. Therefore, ~0x7777 is 0x8888.

The most common use of bitwise operators is for representing flag bits (Boolean values packed into 1 bit each).

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

See also

Converts expression1 and expression2 to 32-bit unsigned integers, and places a 1 in each bit position where the corresponding bits of either expression1 or expression2 are 1.

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

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Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 | expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x |= y; 
x = x | y; 

See also

Converts expression and shiftCount to 32-bit integers, and shifts all the bits in expression to the right by the number of places specified by the integer that results from the conversion of shiftCount. Bits that are shifted off the right end are discarded. To preserve the sign of the original expression, the bits on the left are filled in with 0 if the most significant bit (the bit farthest to the left) of expression is 0, and filled in with 1 if the most significant bit is 1. Shifting a value right by one position is the equivalent of dividing by 2 and discarding the remainder.

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

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Performs a bitwise right-shift operation and stores the result in expression.

The following two statements are equivalent:

A >>= B; 
A = (A >> B);

See also

The same as the bitwise right shift (>>) operator except that it does not preserve the sign of the original expression because the bits on the left are always filled with 0.

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit unsigned integer, so the result is an integer in the range 0 to 4294967295.

Note: ActionScript has no complementary "bitwise unsigned left shift" operator, but you can achieve the same effect by using uint(expression << shiftCount).

See also

Performs an unsigned bitwise right-shift operation and stores the result in expression. The following two statements are equivalent:

A >>>= B; 
A = (A >>> B); 

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Converts expression1 and expression2 to 32-bit unsigned integers, and places a 1 in each bit position where the corresponding bits in expression1 or expression2, but not both, are 1.

A floating-point number is converted to an integer by discarding any digits after the decimal point. A positive integer is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; a value larger than the maximum has its most significant digits discarded when it is converted so the value is still 32-bit. A negative number is converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value using the two's complement notation, with a minimum value of -2147483648 or 0x800000000; a number less than the minimum is converted to two's complement with greater precision before the most significant digits are discarded.

The result is interpreted as a 32-bit two's complement number, so the result is an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

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Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 ^ expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x ^= y 
x = x ^ y 

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/* comment */

/* comment

   comment */

Delimits one or more lines of script comments. Characters that appear between the opening delimiter (/*) and the closing delimiter (*/) are interpreted as a comment and ignored by the ActionScript compiler. Use these delimiters to identify comments on multiple successive lines; for single-line comments, use the // delimiter.

You will receive an error message if you omit the closing block comment delimiter (*/), or if you attempt to nest comments. After an opening delimiter (/*) is used, the first closing delimiter (*/) ends the comment, regardless of the number of opening delimiters placed before it.

See also

 myXML = <{tagName} {attributeName} = {attributeValue}>{content}</{tagName}>

Evaluates an expression that is used in an XML or XMLList initializer. An XML or XMLList initializer is a literal value that is assigned to a variable of type XML or XMLList. An expression that is delimited by the XML { and } operators can be used in an XML or XMLList initializer instead of literal names or values. An expression can be used in place of tagName, attributeName, attributeValue, and content.

See also

 myXML[expression]

Accesses a property or attribute of an XML or XMLList object. The brackets operator allows you to access property names that are not accessible with the dot (.) operator.

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Evaluates expression1, then expression2, and so on. This operator is primarily used with the for loop statement and is often used with the parentheses () operator.

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Concatenates (combines) strings. If one expression is a string, all other expressions are converted to strings and concatenated.

If both expressions are numbers, this operator behaves as an addition operator.

See also

expression1 + expression2

Concatenates (combines) XML or XMLList values into an XMLList object. An XMLList object results only if both operands are XML or XMLList values.

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 + expression2. For example, the following two statements have the same result:

x += y; 
x = x + y;

See also

expression1 += expression2

Assigns expression1, which is an XMLList object, the value of expression1 + expression2. For example, the following two statements have the same result:

x += y; 
x = x + y; 

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expression1 ? expression2 : expression3

Evaluates expression1, and if the value of expression1 is true, the result is the value of expression2; otherwise the result is the value of expression3.

--expression

expression--

Subtracts 1 from the operand. The operand can be a variable, element in an array, or property of an object. The pre-decrement form of the operator (--expression) subtracts 1 from expression and returns the result. The post-decrement form of the operator (expression--) subtracts 1 from expression and returns the initial value of expression (the value prior to the subtraction).

 delete reference

Destroys the object property specified by reference; the result is true if the property does not exist after the operation completes, and false otherwise. The delete operator returns true if it is called on a nonexistent property or a dynamic property not defined in a class.

The delete operator can fail and return false if the reference parameter cannot be deleted. You cannot delete fixed properties or variables that are declared with the var statement. A fixed property is a variable or method defined in a class definition.

The delete operator cannot be used to destroy a property of a class, unless that class is a dynamic class added at runtime. Properties of sealed classes cannot be destroyed using delete. Set the property to null instead.

Note: You cannot delete an object, but you can make an object eligible for garbage collection by removing all references to the object. The most common reference to an object is a variable that points to it. You can remove such a reference by setting the variable to null. The garbage collector removes any object that has no references.

See also

 delete reference

Deletes the XML elements or attributes specified by reference.

 myXML..childElement1..@attributeName 

Navigates to descendant elements of an XML or XMLList object, or (combined with the @ operator) finds matching attributes of descendants. The matching elements or attributes need not be direct children of the XML or XMLList object; they can be lower in the tree (for example, grandchildren). The result is an XMLList object, because more than one child element or attribute can match.

The order of nodes in the XMLList object returned is the result of a depth-first traversal. For example, consider the following:

var myXML:XML = <a>
			<b>one
				<c> 
					<b>two</b> 
				</c> 
			</b>
			<b>three</b>
		</a>;

trace(myXML..b[0].toXMLString());
trace("______________");
trace(myXML..b[1].toXMLString());
trace("______________");
trace(myXML..b[2].toXMLString());

The following output would result:

<b>
  one
  <c>
    <b>two</b>
  </c>
</b>
______________
<b>two</b>
______________
<b>three</b>

To return descendants with names that match ActionScript reserved words, use the XML.descendants() method instead of the descendant (..) operator, as the following example shows:

var xml:XML = 
<enrollees>
	<student id="239">
		<class name="Algebra" />
 		<class name="Spanish 2"/>
	</student>
	<student id="206">
		<class name="Trigonometry" />
 		<class name="Spanish 2" />
	</student>
 </enrollees>;
 trace(xml.descendants("class")); 
 

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Divides expression1 by expression2. The result of the division operation is a double-precision floating-point number.

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Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 / expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x /= y; 
x = x / y;

See also

object.property_or_method

Accesses class variables and methods, gets and sets object properties, and delimits imported packages or classes.

See also

myXML.childElement
myXML.@attributeName 

Navigates to child elements of an XML or XMLList object, or (combined with the @ operator) returns attributes of an XML or XMLList object. The object returned is an XMLList, because more than one child element or attribute can match.

To return elements with names that match ActionScript reserved words, use the XML.elements() method or the XML.descendants() method instead of the XML dot (.) operator, as the following example shows:

var xml:XML = 
	<student id="206">
		<class name="Trigonometry" />
		<class name="Spanish 2" />
	</student>;
trace(xml.elements("class"));
trace(xml.descendants("class")); 

See also

Tests two expressions for equality. The result is true if the expressions are equal.

If the data types of the two operands match, the definition of equal depends on the data type of the operands:

• Values of type int, uint, and Boolean are considered equal if they have the same value.
• Numbers with matching values are considered equal, unless they are both NaN.
• If the value of both operands is null or undefined, they are considered equal.
• String expressions are equal if they have the same number of characters and the characters are identical.
• For XML objects:
  • If one operand is a text or attribute node and the other has simple content, both operands are converted to strings with the toString() method and are considered equal if the resulting strings match.
  • Otherwise, objects are considered equal only if the qualified name, attributes, and child properties for both objects match.
• XMLList objects are considered equal if they have the same number of properties and both the order and values of the properties match.
• For Namespace objects, values are considered equal if the uri properties of both objects match.
• For QName objects, values are considered equal if the uri properties of both objects match and the localName properties of both objects match.
• Variables representing objects, arrays, and functions are compared by reference. Two such variables are equal if they refer to the same object, array, or function. Two separate arrays are never considered equal, even if they have the same number of elements.

• The operands' values are undefined and null, in which case the result is true.
• Automatic data type conversion converts the data types of String, Boolean, int, uint, and Number values to compatible types and the converted values are equal, in which case operands are considered equal.
• One operand is of type XML with simple content (hasSimpleContent() == true), and after both operands are converted to strings with the toString() method, the resulting strings match.
• One operand is of type XMLList, and either of the following conditions is true:
  • The length property of the XMLList object is 0, and the other object is undefined.
  • The length property of the XMLList object is 1, and one element of the XMLList object matches the other operand.

See also

Compares two expressions and determines whether expression1 is greater than expression2; if it is, the result is true. If expression1 is less than or equal to expression2, the result is false.

If both operands are of type String, the operands are compared using alphabetical order; all capital letters come before lowercase letters. Otherwise, operands are first converted to numbers, then compared.

Compares two expressions and determines whether expression1 is greater than or equal to expression2 (true) or expression1 is less than expression2 (false).

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Evaluates whether a property is part of a specific object. To use the in operator, specify a property name as the first operand and an object as the second operand. If the object you specify contains such a property, the result is true; otherwise the result is false.

If the specified object is an Array object, you can use the in operator to check whether a particular index number is valid. If you pass an integer as the first operand, the result is true if the index is within the valid range of index numbers, and false otherwise.

See also

++expression

 expression++

Adds 1 to an expression. The expression can be a variable, an element in an array, or a property of an object. The pre-increment form of the operator (++expression) adds 1 to expression and returns the result. The post-increment form of the operator (expression++) adds 1 to expression and returns the initial value of expression (the value prior to the addition).

Tests for the exact opposite of the equality (==) operator. If expression1 is equal to expression2, the result is false. As with the equality (==) operator, the definition of equal depends on the data types being compared.

If the data types of the two operands match, the definition of equal depends on the data type of the operands:

• Values of type int, uint, and Boolean are considered equal if they have the same value.
• Numbers with matching values are considered equal, unless they are both NaN.
• If the value of both operands is null or undefined, they are considered equal.
• String expressions are equal if they have the same number of characters and the characters are identical.
• For XML objects:
  • If one operand is a text or attribute node and the other has simple content, both operands are converted to strings with the toString() method and are considered equal if the resulting strings match.
  • Otherwise, objects are considered equal only if the qualified name, attributes, and child properties for both objects match.
• XMLList objects are considered equal if they have the same number of properties and both the order and values of the properties match.
• For Namespace objects, values are considered equal if the uri properties of both objects match.
• For QName objects, values are considered equal if the uri properties of both objects match and the localName properties of both objects match.
• Variables representing objects, arrays, and functions are compared by reference. Two such variables are equal if they refer to the same object, array, or function. Two separate arrays are never considered equal, even if they have the same number of elements.

• The operands' values are undefined and null, in which case the result is true.
• Automatic data type conversion converts the data types of String, Boolean, int, uint, and Number values to compatible types and the converted values are equal, in which case operands are considered equal.
• One operand is of type XML with simple content (hasSimpleContent() == true), and after both operands are converted to strings with the toString() method the resulting strings match.
• One operand is of type XMLList, and either of the following conditions is true:
  • The length property of the XMLList object is 0, and the other object is undefined.
  • The length property of the XMLList object is 1, and one element of the XMLList object matches the other operand.

See also

Evaluates whether an expression's prototype chain includes the prototype object for function. The instanceof operator is included for backward compatibility with ECMAScript edition 3, and may be useful for advanced programmers who choose to use prototype-based inheritance with constructor functions instead of classes.

To check whether an object is a member of a specific data type, use the is operator.

When used with classes, the instanceof operator is similar to the is operator because a class's prototype chain includes all of its superclasses. Interfaces, however, are not included on prototype chains, so the instanceof operator always results in false when used with interfaces, whereas the is operator results in true if an object belongs to a class that implements the specified interface.

Note: The ActionScript is operator is the equivalent of the Java instanceof operator.

See also

Evaluates whether an object is compatible with a specific data type, class, or interface. Use the is operator instead of the instanceof operator for type comparisons. You can also use the is operator to check whether an object implements an interface.

See also

Compares two expressions and determines whether expression1 is less than expression2; if so, the result is true. If expression1 is greater than or equal to expression2, the result is false.

If both operands are of type String, the operands are compared using alphabetical order; all capital letters come before lowercase letters. Otherwise, operands are first converted to numbers, then compared.

Compares two expressions and determines whether expression1 is less than or equal to expression2; if it is, the result is true. If expression1 is greater than expression2, the result is false.

If both operands are of type String, the operands are compared using alphabetical order; all capital letters come before lowercase letters. Otherwise, operands are first converted to numbers, then compared.

Indicates the beginning of a script comment. Characters that appear between the comment delimiter (//) and the end-of-line character are interpreted as a comment and are ignored. Use this delimiter for single-line comments; for comments on multiple successive lines, use the /* and */ delimiters.

See also

Returns expression1 if it is false or can be converted to false, and expression2 otherwise. Examples of values that can be converted to false are 0, NaN, null, and undefined. If you use a function call as expression2, the function is not called if expression1 evaluates to false.

If both operands are of type Boolean, the result is true only if both operands are true, as shown in the following table:

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 && expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x &&= y; 
x = x && y; 

See also

Inverts the Boolean value of a variable or expression. If expression is a variable with the absolute or converted value true, the value of !expression is false. If the expression x && y evaluates to false, the expression !(x && y) evaluates to true.

The following expressions illustrate the result of using the logical NOT (!) operator:

• !true returns false.
• !false returns true.

See also

Returns expression1 if it is true or can be converted to true, and expression2 otherwise. If you use a function call as expression2, the function is not called if expression1 evaluates to true.

If both operands are of type Boolean, the result is true if either or both expressions are true; the result is false only if both expressions are false, as shown in the following table:

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 || expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x ||= y; 
x = x || y; 

See also

Calculates the remainder of expression1 divided by expression2. If either operand is non-numeric, the modulo (%) operator attempts to convert it to a number.

The sign of the modulo result matches the sign of the dividend (the first number). For example, -4 % 3 and -4 % -3 both evaluate to -1.

See also

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 % expression2. The following two statements are equivalent:

x %= y; 
x = x % y; 

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Multiplies two numerical expressions. If both expressions are integers, the product is an integer. If either or both expressions are floating-point numbers, the product is a floating-point number.

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 * expression2. For example, the following two expressions are equivalent:

x *= y 
x = x * y 

See also

namespace::property

namespace::method()

namespace::xmlObject.property

namespace::xmlObject.@attribute

Identifies the namespace of a property, a method, an XML property, or an XML attribute.

See also

Instantiates a class instance. The new operator can be used with a class or a variable of type Class to create an instance of a class. The new operator is commonly used with a class object to create an instance of a class. For example, the statement new Sprite() creates an instance of the Sprite class.

The new operator can also be used to associate a class with an embedded asset, which is an external object such as an image, sound, or font that is compiled into a SWF file. Each embedded asset is represented by a unique embedded asset class. To access an embedded asset, you must use the new operator to instantiate its associated class. Subsequently, you can call the appropriate methods and properties of the embedded asset class to manipulate the embedded asset.

If you prefer to define classes with Function objects instead of the class keyword, you can use the new operator to create objects based on constructor functions. Do not confuse constructor functions with constructor methods of a class. A constructor function is a Function object that is defined with the function keyword, but that is not part of a class definition. If you use constructor functions to create objects, you must use prototype inheritance instead of class inheritance.

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Accesses class variables and methods, gets and sets object properties, with an inherent null-object check. If the object on which this operator is applied is null, then rather than throwing a null reference error, the expression evaluates to null.

For example sprite.stage.nativeWindow would return the native window on which the 'sprite' object is placed. But if the sprite was not on the stage, this would throw a null reference error. Using the null condition member access, this becomes sprite.stage?.nativeWindow which would then result in a 'null' value if the sprite was not on the stage, rather than throwing an errro.

See also

Returns expression1 unless it is null or undefined, and expression2 otherwise. If you use a function call as expression2, the function is not called unless expression1 evaluates to null or undefined.

This is essentially a short-hand way of writing "(expression1 == null || expression1 == undefined) ? expression2 : expression1". If expression1 is a 'false' or zero value, this is a defined value and so would be returned (i.e. "(0 ?? 1)" would return 0, whereas "(null ?? 1)" would return 1, as would "(0 || 1)").

See also

object = {name1 : value1, name2 : value2,... nameN : valueN}

Creates a new object and initializes it with the specified name and value property pairs. Using this operator is the same as using the new Object syntax and populating the property pairs using the assignment operator. The prototype of the newly created object is generically named the Object object.

This operator is also used to mark blocks of contiguous code associated with flow control statements (for, while, if, else, switch) and functions.

See also

(expression1[, expression2])

(expression1, expression2)

function(parameter1,..., parameterN) 

Performs a grouping operation on one or more parameters, performs sequential evaluation of expressions, or surrounds one or more parameters and passes them as arguments to a function that precedes the parentheses.

Usage 1: Controls the order in which the operators execute. Parentheses override the normal precedence order and cause the expressions within the parentheses to be evaluated first. When parentheses are nested, the contents of the innermost parentheses are evaluated before the contents of the outer ones.

Usage 2: Evaluates a series of expressions, separated by commas, in sequence, and returns the result of the final expression.

Usage 3: Surrounds one or more parameters and passes them to the function that precedes the parentheses.

See also

myXML.(expression)

Evaluates an expression in an ECMAScript for XML (E4X) XML construct. For example, myXML.(lastName == "Smith") identifies XML elements with the name lastName and the value "Smith". The result is an XMLList object.

See also

/pattern/flags

When used before and after characters, indicates that the characters have a literal value and are considered a regular expression (RegExp), not a variable, string, or other ActionScript element. Note, however, that two sequential forward slash characters (//) indicate the beginning of a comment.

See also

Tests two expressions for equality, but does not perform automatic data conversion. The result is true if both expressions, including their data types, are equal.

The strict equality (===) operator is the same as the equality (==) operator in three ways:

• Numbers and Boolean values are compared by value and are considered equal if they have the same value.
• String expressions are equal if they have the same number of characters and the characters are identical.
• Variables representing objects, arrays, and functions are compared by reference. Two such variables are equal if they refer to the same object, array, or function. Two separate arrays are never considered equal, even if they have the same number of elements.

• The strict equality operator performs automatic data conversion only for the number types (Number, int, and uint), whereas the equality operator performs automatic data conversion for all primitive data types.
• When comparing null and undefined, the strict equality operator returns false.

First, comparisons between primitive values and primitive objects that contain the same value return true in ActionScript 3.0, but false in earlier versions. In earlier versions, the data type of a primitive value is either Boolean, Number, or String, whereas the data type of a primitive object is always Object rather than Boolean, Number or String. The practical effect of this difference is that the following code results in false in previous versions of ActionScript because the data types of the operands do not match, but the result is true in ActionScript 3.0 because primitive values are typed as either Boolean, Number, int, uint, or String, whether they are wrapped in an object or not.

var num1:Number = 1;
var num2:Number = new Number(1);
trace(num1 === num2); // true in ActionScript 3.0, false in ActionScript 2.0
			

var num1:Number = new Number(1);
var num2:Number = new Number(1);
trace(num1 == num2);  // true in ActionScript 3.0, false in ActionScript 2.0
trace(num1 === num2); // true in ActionScript 3.0, false in ActionScript 2.0

See also

Tests for the exact opposite of the strict equality (===) operator. The strict inequality operator performs the same as the inequality operator except that only the int and uint data types are converted.

If expression1 is equal to expression2, and their data types are equal, the result is false.

The strict inequality (!==) operator is the same as the inequality (!=) operator in three ways:

• Numbers and Boolean values are compared by value and are considered equal if they have the same value.
• String expressions are equal if they have the same number of characters and the characters are identical.
• Variables representing objects, arrays, and functions are compared by reference. Two such variables are equal if they refer to the same object, array, or function. Two separate arrays are never considered equal, even if they have the same number of elements.

• The strict inequality (!==) operator performs automatic data conversion only for the number types, Number, int, and uint, whereas the inequality (!=) operator performs automatic data conversion for all primitive data types.
• When comparing null and undefined, the strict inequality (!==) operator returns true.

See also

 "text" 

When used before and after characters, indicates that the characters have a literal value and are considered a string, not a variable, numerical value, or other ActionScript element.

See also

-expression

 expression1 - expression2

Used for negating or subtracting.

Usage 1: When used for negating, the operator reverses the sign of a numerical expression.

Usage 2: When used for subtracting, the operator performs an arithmetic subtraction on two numerical expressions, subtracting expression2 from expression1. When both expressions are integers, the difference is an integer. When either or both expressions are floating-point numbers, the difference is a floating-point number.

Assigns expression1 the value of expression1 - expression2. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:

x -= y ;
x = x - y;

String expressions must be converted to numbers; otherwise, the result is NaN (not a number).

See also

[modifiers] var variableName:type

function functionName():type { ... }

function functionName(parameter1:type, ..., parameterN:type) [:type]{ ... } 

Used for assigning a data type; this operator specifies the variable type, function return type, or function parameter type. When used in a variable declaration or assignment, this operator specifies the variable's type; when used in a function declaration or definition, this operator specifies the function's return type; when used with a function parameter in a function definition, this operator specifies the variable type expected for that parameter.

Type checking always occurs at run time. However, when the compiler is set to strict mode, all types are also checked at compile time, and errors are generated when there is a mismatch. Mismatches can occur during assignment operations, function calls, and class member dereferencing using the dot (.) operator.

Types that you can use include all native object types, classes and interfaces that you define, and void. The recognized native types are Boolean, Number, int, uint, and String. All built-in classes are also supported as native types.

If you do not assign a data type, the variable, function return value, or function parameter is considered untyped, which means that the value can be of any data type. If you wish to make clear your intent to use an untyped value, you can use the asterisk (*) character as the type annotation. When used as a type annotation, the asterisk character is equivalent to leaving a variable, function return type, or function parameter untyped.

See also

Evaluates expression and returns a string specifying the expression's data type. The result is limited to six possible string values: boolean, function, number, object, string, and xml. If you apply this operator to an instance of a user-defined class, the result is the string object. The typeof operator is included for backward compatibility. Use the is operator to check type compatibility.

See also

Evaluates an expression and then discards its value, returning undefined. The void operator is often used in comparisons that use the == operator to test for undefined values.

 myXML= <{tagName} {attributeName} = {attributeValue}>{content}</{tagName}>

Defines an XML tag in an XML literal. Use the forward slash / to define the closing tag.

See also