How to create javascript delay function

javascript function delay sleep wait
user2370460 picture user2370460 · Jun 1, 2013 · Viewed 163.4k times · Source

I have a javascript file, and in several places I want to add a small delay, so the script would reach that point, wait 3 seconds, and then continue with the rest of the code. The best way that I thought of doing this was to create a function, which I could call from anywhere in the script.

function startDelay(lengthOfDelay)
{
//code to make it delay for lengthOfDelay amount of time
}

However, I can not find any way to implement the code to make it wait. I had a look at setTimeout, but you needed to hard code the function into it, which made it no good for me.

Is there any way that I can get the script to juct pause for a few seconds? I have no problem with the UI freezing whilst the code is paused.

If not, is there a way that I could use the PHP sleep() to achieve this? (I know that PHP is server side and Javascript is client side, but maybe there is a way that I have not heard of.)

Answer

Kassem picture Kassem · Jun 1, 2013

You do not need to use an anonymous function with setTimeout. You can do something like this:

setTimeout(doSomething, 3000);

function doSomething() {
   //do whatever you want here
}

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