Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript classes > Array > Array constructor

Array constructor

Lets you create an array. You can use the constructor to create different types of arrays: an empty array, an array with a specific length but whose elements have undefined values, or an array whose elements have specific values.

Usage 1: If you don't specify any parameters, an array with a length of 0 is created.

Usage 2: If you specify only a length, an array is created with length number of elements. The value of each element is set to undefined.

Usage 3: If you use the element parameters to specify values, an array is created with specific values.

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 5

Parameters

value:Object [optional] - Either:

• An integer that specifies the number of elements in the array.
• A list of one or more arbitrary values. The values can be of type Boolean, Number, String, Object, or Array. The first element in an array always has an index or position of 0.

Note: If only a single numeric parameter is passed to the Array constructor, it is assumed to be length and it is converted to an integer by using the Integer() function.

Example

Usage 1: The following example creates a new Array object with an initial length of 0:

var my_array:Array = new Array();
trace(my_array.length); // Traces 0.

Usage 2: The following example creates a new Array object with an initial length of 4:

var my_array:Array = new Array(4);
trace(my_array.length); // Returns 4.
trace(my_array[0]); // Returns undefined.
if (my_array[0] == undefined) { // No quotation marks around undefined.
    trace("undefined is a special value, not a string");
} // Traces: undefined is a special value, not a string.

Usage 3: The following example creates the new Array object go_gos_array with an initial length of 5:

var go_gos_array:Array = new Array("Belinda", "Gina", "Kathy", "Charlotte", "Jane");
trace(go_gos_array.length); // Returns 5.
trace(go_gos_array.join(", ")); // Displays elements.

The initial elements of the go_gos_array array are identified, as shown in the following example:

go_gos_array[0] = "Belinda";
go_gos_array[1] = "Gina";
go_gos_array[2] = "Kathy";
go_gos_array[3] = "Charlotte";
go_gos_array[4] = "Jane";

The following code adds a sixth element to the go_gos_array array and changes the second element:

go_gos_array[5] = "Donna";
go_gos_array[1] = "Nina"
trace(go_gos_array.join(" + "));
// Returns Belinda + Nina + Kathy + Charlotte + Jane + Donna.

See also

[] array access operator, length (Array.length property)

Flash CS3