Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript

Dennis Eitner
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Dennis Eitner
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 25,644 Points
Posted by Dennis Eitner
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Dennis Eitner
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 25,644 Points

How can I pass a variable outside of a function

I would like to use a the variable outside of a function. How do i accomplish this? I want the variable to be 7.

Code: 

var myNum = 5; 

function hello(myNum){

return myNum = 7; 
}

alert(myNum);

2 Answers

Crisoforo Gaspar Hernández
Crisoforo Gaspar Hernández
18,302 Points

Hi, you can reassign any value returned from a function to another variable or the same one, for example: 

var a = 1;
function add_two( n ){
  return n + 2;
}

// Then you can reasign the value after the function is executed like
a = add_two( a );
// a now has the value of 3.
console.log( a );
travis spade
travis spade
9,816 Points

Crisoforo, I tried submitting an answer, but my code block didn't get converted like yours. As you can see in my answer below you can still see the three backticks. How can I get my code block to look pretty like yours? What am I missing?

travis spade
travis spade
9,816 Points
travis spade
travis spade
9,816 Points

If you want the hello function to run you need to call it. This simplest way to do this would be to assign the global variable in the hello function. Since myNum is in the global scope you wouldn't need to return anything. I don't think this is a good way to do this, but here is what it would look like: 

var myNum = 5;

function hello(someNum){
  myNum = 7;
}
// call the function
hello();
alert(myNum);

I think a better way to do this would be to pass the value to the function then assign the returned value to the variable like this:

var myNum = 5;

function hello(someNum){
  someNum = 7;
  return someNum; 
}

myNum = hello(myNum);
alert(myNum);
Crisoforo Gaspar Hernández
Crisoforo Gaspar Hernández
18,302 Points

Looks like you have the correct syntax for markdown, but maybe you need to add some spaces like

before the: ```

Also you have the preview button on the right corner of the text area where you can see the live preview of your current comment.

As a reference you can use the Github Markdown guide to see how to highlight the code: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet#code

travis spade
travis spade
9,816 Points

Crisoforo, Thanks, adding a carriage return after the colon and before the three backticks fixed the issue.