How to stop "setInterval" [duplicate]

Question

How do I stop and start setInterval?

Suppose I have a textarea. I want to stop setInterval on focus and restart setInterval on blur (with jQuery).

Answer 1

You have to store the timer id of the interval when you start it, you will use this value later to stop it, using the clearInterval function:

$(function () {   var timerId = 0;    $('textarea').focus(function () {     timerId = setInterval(function () {       // interval function body     }, 1000);   });    $('textarea').blur(function () {     clearInterval(timerId);   });  }); 

Answer 2

This is based on CMS's answer. The question asked for the timer to be restarted on the blur and stopped on the focus, so I moved it around a little:

$(function () {   var timerId = 0;    $('textarea').focus(function () {     clearInterval(timerId);   });    $('textarea').blur(function () {     timerId = setInterval(function () {      //some code here      }, 1000);   }); });