Question

I’m getting stuck somewhere (as newbies do). Is it ok to re-define a variable once it has been trimmed and tested for content?

    function setarea() {

        var dbasedata = document.forms[0]._dbase_name.value;
            dbasedata = dbasedata.toUpperCase();
            dbasedata = dbasedata.replace(/\s/g, "");
            dbasedata = dbasedata.remove("UK_CONTACTS", "");

        if (dbasedata != "") {
            _area.value = _dbase_name.value;
        } 

   else var dbasedata = document.forms[0]._dbase_name.value;
            dbasedata = dbasedata.toUpperCase();
            dbasedata = dbasedata.replace(/\s/g, "");

        if (dbasedata.indexOf("UK_CONTACTS")>-1 {
        var dbaseterm = "UK_CONTACTS";
   else var dbaseterm = "";     
            }

Answer 1

It may ‘work’, but isn’t recommended. You don’t need to redeclare it.

Probably want to run your code through JSLint . There are a few tidyness/bracing issues you would want to address.