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6. The this Keyword > Conceptual Overview of this and How It Refers to Objects
Conceptual Overview of this and How It Refers to Objects
When a function is created, a keyword called this is created (behind the scenes), which links
to the object in which the function operates. Said another way, this is available to the scope of its function,
yet is a reference to the object of which that function is a
property/method.
Let’s take a look at the cody object from Chapter 1 again:
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><body><script>
var cody = {
living : true,
age : 23,
gender : 'male',
getGender : function() {return cody.gender;}
};
console.log(cody.getGender()); // logs 'male'
</script></body></html>
Notice how inside of the getGender function, we are accessing the
gender property using dot notation
(e.g., cody.gender) on the
cody object itself. This can be rewritten using
this to access the
cody object because this points to the cody
object.
