Question

Is there a way to repeat a function in Javascript using the setTimeout function? For example, I need two functions to be called every five seconds. I have something like this:

$(document).ready(function(){    
    setTimeout('shiftLeft(); showProducts();', 5000);    
});

but it only happens once, five seconds after page loads, and I need it to happen every five seconds.

Answer 1

Use setInterval() instead of setTimeout(), if you want your function to be executed repeatedly. setTimeout() delays the execution of your function for x seconds, while setInterval() executes your function every x seconds.

^{Both within the boundaries of the event queue of JavaScript, so don’t be too confident, that you functions get executed at the exact time you specified}

$(document).ready(function(){    
    setInterval( function(){ shiftLeft(); showProducts(); }, 5000);    
});