What's the .apply jQuery function?

Question

I see that in different plugins and codes, but I don't understand what does that function... In the jQuery api isn't referenced!

Answer 1

apply calls a function with a set of arguments. It's not part of jQuery, it's part of core Javascript. However, there is mention of it in the jQuery docs:

http://docs.jquery.com/Types#Context.2C_Call_and_Apply

Syntax:

somefunction.apply(thisObj, [argsArray])

The above calls the function somefunction, setting this to thisObj within the function's scope, and passing in the arguments from argsArray as the arguments to the function.

Answer 2

Essentially, apply will call a function with the context being set to the object you apply the function to. This means that within the function, referencing this will refer to that object.