Errors: Too much recursion

Message

Error: Out of stack space (Edge)
InternalError: too much recursion (Firefox)
RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded (Chrome)

Error type

InternalError.

What went wrong?

A function that calls itself is called a recursive function. In some ways, recursion is analogous to a loop. Both execute the same code multiple times, and both require a condition (to avoid an infinite loop, or rather, infinite recursion in this case). When there is too much or infinite recursion, JavaScript will throw this error.

Examples

This recursive function runs 10 times, as per the exit condition.

function loop(x) {
  if (x >= 10) // "x >= 10" is the exit condition
    return;
  // do stuff
  loop(x + 1); // the recursive call
}
loop(0);

Setting this condition to an extremely high value, won't work:

function loop(x) {
  if (x >= 1000000000000)
    return;
  // do stuff
  loop(x + 1);
}
loop(0);

// InternalError: too much recursion

See also

• Recursion
• Recursive functions