I would like to know the most efficient way of emptying an associative array without causing any memory leak (the values are js objects)

Just to be sure, I have tried iterating through the elements of the array, calling 'delete' operation for each element object, so that all of the element objects will bee candidates for garbage collection. Finally, I reset the assoc array using: somearray = {};

Is it necessary to call the 'delete' operation for each of the element? Or does resetting the variable value suffice so that all elements will be garbage collected?

Thanks!

I would like to know the most efficient way of emptying an associative array without causing any memory leak (the values are js objects)

Just to be sure, I have tried iterating through the elements of the array, calling 'delete' operation for each element object, so that all of the element objects will bee candidates for garbage collection. Finally, I reset the assoc array using: somearray = {};

Is it necessary to call the 'delete' operation for each of the element? Or does resetting the variable value suffice so that all elements will be garbage collected?

Thanks!

• javascript
• arrays
• object
• memory-leaks

2 Answers 2

As long as neither your objects nor the associative array are referenced anywhere else, resetting the array should do it.

Calling delete on each object is only necessary in IE6 on a DOM element. See here

somearray.length = 0 should work.