Question

I find it unfamiliar to work with ActionScript’s array assignment by reference methodology. I understand what it’s doing, but I somehow find it confusing to manage many arrays with this methodology. Is there a simple way to work with ActionScript arrays where the array assignment is by VALUE rather than REFERENCE? For example, if I want to assign oneArray to twoArray without linking the two arrays to each other forever in the future, how to do it? Would this work?

var oneArray:Array = new Array("a", "b", "c");
var twoArray:Array(3);
for (ii=0; ii<3; ii++) { twoArray[ii] = oneArray[ii]; }

The intent is to be able to change twoArray without seeing a change in oneArray.

Any advice how to assign arrays by VALUE instead of REFERENCE?

—- for reference —-

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/Array.html

Array assignment is by reference rather than by value. When you assign one array variable to another array variable, both refer to the same array:

var oneArray:Array = new Array("a", "b", "c");
var twoArray:Array = oneArray; // Both array variables refer to the same array.
twoArray[0] = "z";             
trace(oneArray);               // Output: z,b,c.

Answer 1

You can clone the array to guarantee two seperate copies with the same values in each Array element:

var oneArray:Array = new Array("a", "b", "c");
var twoArray:Array = oneArray.concat();
twoArray[0] = "z";
trace(oneArray); // Output: a,b,c

Hope this is what you’re looking for.