clearTimeout() not clearing timer

Question

function countDown(secs,elem)
{   
    var element = document.getElementById(elem);
    element.innerHTML = "Game ends in " + secs + " seconds!";
    if(secs<1)
    {   
        clearTimeout(timer);
        document.getElementById('gameContent').style.display='none';

    }
    secs--;
    var timer = setTimeout('countDown('+secs+',"'+elem+'")',1000);

}

 <div class="timerCount" id="status"></div>
 <script>countDown(5,"status");</script>

My timer starts correctly at 5 secs and decrements. My game div hides after the timer reaches 0 but the timer doesnt clear out and end instead it goes to negative. Please my bug in my code so as to stop the timer and clear it

Answer 1

It's more efficient if you just use setInterval and do something like this:

function countDown(secs, elem) {
  var interval;
  var element = document.getElementById(elem);
  var timer = setInterval(function() {
    secs--;
    update();
    if (secs < 1) {
      clearInterval(timer);
    }
  }, 1000);

  function update() {
    if (secs > 0) {
      element.innerHTML = "Game ends in " + secs + " seconds!";
    } else {
      document.getElementById('gameContent').style.display = 'none';
    }
  }
  update();

}

countDown(5, "status");

<div id="gameContent">
  <h1>Game</h1>
  <div class="timerCount" id="status"></div>
</div>