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JavaScript Interacting with the DOM Responding to Events Listening for Events with addEventListener()

S C
S C
5,947 Points
Posted by S C
S C
5,947 Points

Why is "event" passed into the anonymous function for the copy event example?

Around 3:20, for the example showing the event listener on the copy event, why does he pass "event" into the anonymous function here, but not in the other examples?

// Example 1

document.addEventListener('copy', (event) => { alert('Please be sure to credit the author.') });

// Example 2

listItem.addEventListener('mouseover', () => { listItem.textContent = listItem.textContent.toUpperCase(); });

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points

The system always passes the event object to the handler when calling it, but defining a parameter for it is optional if your handler code doesn't use it.

Neither of the examples shown here need it, so it doesn't matter if the parameter is defined or not. My personal "good practice" preference is to always define it, but name the parameter "unused" when it isn't needed in the handler code.

document.addEventListener('click', (unused) => { alert("The event object wasn't needed.") });
S C
S C
5,947 Points
S C
S C
5,947 Points

Perfect—Thank you!