---
title: Function.prototype.apply()
short-title: apply()
slug: Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/apply
page-type: javascript-instance-method
browser-compat: javascript.builtins.Function.apply
sidebar: jsref
---

The **`apply()`** method of {{jsxref("Function")}} instances calls this function with a given `this` value, and `arguments` provided as an array (or an [array-like object](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Indexed_collections#working_with_array-like_objects)).

{{InteractiveExample("JavaScript Demo: Function.prototype.apply()")}}

```js interactive-example
const numbers = [5, 6, 2, 3, 7];

const max = Math.max.apply(null, numbers);

console.log(max);
// Expected output: 7

const min = Math.min.apply(null, numbers);

console.log(min);
// Expected output: 2
```

## Syntax

```js-nolint
apply(thisArg)
apply(thisArg, argsArray)
```

### Parameters

- `thisArg`
  - : The value of `this` provided for the call to `func`. If the function is not in [strict mode](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Strict_mode), [`null`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/null) and [`undefined`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/undefined) will be replaced with the global object, and primitive values will be converted to objects.
- `argsArray` {{optional_inline}}
  - : An array-like object, specifying the arguments with which `func` should be called, or [`null`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/null) or [`undefined`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/undefined) if no arguments should be provided to the function.

### Return value

The result of calling the function with the specified `this` value and arguments.

## Description

> [!NOTE]
> This function is almost identical to {{jsxref("Function/call", "call()")}}, except that the function arguments are passed to `call()` individually as a list, while for `apply()` they are combined in one object, typically an array — for example, `func.call(this, "eat", "bananas")` vs. `func.apply(this, ["eat", "bananas"])`.

Normally, when calling a function, the value of [`this`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/this) inside the function is the object that the function was accessed on. With `apply()`, you can assign an arbitrary value as `this` when calling an existing function, without first attaching the function to the object as a property. This allows you to use methods of one object as generic utility functions.

You can also use any kind of object which is array-like as the second parameter. In practice, this means that it needs to have a `length` property, and integer ("index") properties in the range `(0..length - 1)`. For example, you could use a {{domxref("NodeList")}}, or a custom object like `{ 'length': 2, '0': 'eat', '1': 'bananas' }`. You can also use {{jsxref("Functions/arguments", "arguments")}}, for example:

```js
function wrapper() {
  return anotherFn.apply(null, arguments);
}
```

With the [rest parameters](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/rest_parameters) and parameter [spread syntax](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Spread_syntax), this can be rewritten as:

```js
function wrapper(...args) {
  return anotherFn(...args);
}
```

In general, `fn.apply(null, args)` is equivalent to `fn(...args)` with the parameter spread syntax, except `args` is expected to be an array-like object in the former case with `apply()`, and an [iterable](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Iteration_protocols#the_iterable_protocol) object in the latter case with spread syntax.

> [!WARNING]
> Do not use `apply()` to chain constructors (for example, to implement inheritance). This invokes the constructor function as a plain function, which means [`new.target`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/new.target) is `undefined`, and classes throw an error because they can't be called without [`new`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/new). Use {{jsxref("Reflect.construct()")}} or [`extends`](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Classes/extends) instead.

## Examples

### Using apply() to append an array to another

You can use {{jsxref("Array.prototype.push()")}} to append an element to an array. Because `push()` accepts a variable number of arguments, you can also push multiple elements at once. But if you pass an array to `push()`, it will actually add that array as a single element, instead of adding the elements individually, ending up with an array inside an array. On the other hand, {{jsxref("Array.prototype.concat()")}} does have the desired behavior in this case, but it does not append to the _existing_ array — it creates and returns a new array.

In this case, you can use `apply` to implicitly "spread" an array as a series of arguments.

```js
const array = ["a", "b"];
const elements = [0, 1, 2];
array.push.apply(array, elements);
console.info(array); // ["a", "b", 0, 1, 2]
```

The same effect can be achieved with the spread syntax.

```js
const array = ["a", "b"];
const elements = [0, 1, 2];
array.push(...elements);
console.info(array); // ["a", "b", 0, 1, 2]
```

### Using apply() and built-in functions

Clever usage of `apply()` allows you to use built-in functions for some tasks that would probably otherwise require manually looping over a collection (or using the spread syntax).

For example, we can use {{jsxref("Math.max()")}} and {{jsxref("Math.min()")}} to find out the maximum and minimum value in an array.

```js
// min/max number in an array
const numbers = [5, 6, 2, 3, 7];

// using Math.min/Math.max apply
let max = Math.max.apply(null, numbers);
// This about equal to Math.max(numbers[0], …)
// or Math.max(5, 6, …)

let min = Math.min.apply(null, numbers);

// vs. loop based algorithm
max = -Infinity;
min = Infinity;

for (const n of numbers) {
  if (n > max) {
    max = n;
  }
  if (n < min) {
    min = n;
  }
}
```

But beware: by using `apply()` (or the spread syntax) with an arbitrarily long arguments list, you run the risk of exceeding the JavaScript engine's argument length limit.

The consequences of calling a function with too many arguments (that is, more than tens of thousands of arguments) is unspecified and varies across engines. (The JavaScriptCore engine has a hard-coded [argument limit of 65536](https://webkit.org/b/80797).) Most engines throw an exception; but there's no normative specification preventing other behaviors, such as arbitrarily limiting the number of arguments actually passed to the applied function. To illustrate this latter case: if such an engine had a limit of four arguments (actual limits are of course significantly higher), it would be as if the arguments `5, 6, 2, 3` had been passed to `apply` in the examples above, rather than the full array.

If your value array might grow into the tens of thousands, use a hybrid strategy: apply your function to chunks of the array at a time:

```js
function minOfArray(arr) {
  let min = Infinity;
  const QUANTUM = 32768;

  for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i += QUANTUM) {
    const subMin = Math.min.apply(
      null,
      arr.slice(i, Math.min(i + QUANTUM, arr.length)),
    );
    min = Math.min(subMin, min);
  }

  return min;
}

const min = minOfArray([5, 6, 2, 3, 7]);
```

## Specifications

{{Specifications}}

## Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

## See also

- {{jsxref("Functions/arguments", "arguments")}}
- {{jsxref("Function.prototype.bind()")}}
- {{jsxref("Function.prototype.call()")}}
- {{jsxref("Reflect.apply()")}}
- [Functions](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions)
- [Spread syntax (`...`)](/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Spread_syntax)