Search code examples
javascriptmemory-managementobject-reference

Does Javascript equal sign reference objects or clones them?


In MyApp.something.BigObject I have a memory expensive object and I like to do this var theObject = MyApp.something.BigObject;. My question is would that take up double the memory or not?


Solution

  • The "equals sign" is the assignment operator. If the RHS is an object, then a reference is assigned to the LHS, it does not clone or copy the object.

    So given:

    var obj = {};
    var b = obj;
    

    both obj and b reference the same object.