Swap two objects in JavaScript

Question

I have the following code:

MyObject.prototype.doIt = function()
{
     var a = this.obj1;
     var b = this.obj2; 
}

How can i swap the values of this.obj1 and this.obj2 so obj1 becomes obj2 and obj2 becomes obj1.

!Note: Have in mind that i am not working with primitive types.

Answer 1

You can swap any number of objects or literals, even of different types, using a simple identity function like this:

var swap = function (x){return x};
b = swap(a, a=b);
c = swap(a, a=b, b=c);

This works in JavaScript because it accepts additional arguments even if they are not declared or used. The assignments a=b etc, happen after a is passed into the function.

Answer 2

Use a temporary variable to hold the contents of one of the objects while swapping:

var tmp = this.obj1;
this.obj1 = this.obj2;
this.obj2 = tmp;