function*

The function* declaration (function keyword followed by an asterisk) defines a generator function, which returns a Generator object.

Syntax

function* name([param[, param[, ... param]]]) {
   statements
}

name

The function name.

param

The name of a formal parameter for the function.

statements

The statements comprising the body of the function.

Description

Generators are functions which can be exited and later re-entered. Their context (variable bindings) will be saved across re-entrances.

Generators in JavaScript -- especially when combined with Promises -- are a very powerful tool for asynchronous programming as they mitigate -- if not entirely eliminate -- the problems with callbacks, such as Callback Hell and Inversion of Control.
This pattern is what async functions are built on top of.

Calling a generator function does not execute its body immediately; an iterator object for the function is returned instead. When the iterator's next() method is called, the generator function's body is executed until the first yield expression, which specifies the value to be returned from the iterator or, with yield*, delegates to another generator function. The next() method returns an object with a value property containing the yielded value and a done property which indicates whether the generator has yielded its last value as a boolean. Calling the next() method with an argument will resume the generator function execution, replacing the yield expression where execution was paused with the argument from next().

A return statement in a generator, when executed, will make the generator finished (i.e the done property of the object returned by it will be set to true). If a value is returned, it will be set as the value property of the object returned by the generator.
Much like a return statement, an error thrown inside the generator will make the generator finished -- unless caught within the generator's body.
When a generator is finished, subsequent next calls will not execute any of that generator's code, they will just return an object of this form: {value: undefined, done: true}.

Examples

Simple example

function* idMaker() {
  var index = 0;
  while (index < index+1)
    yield index++;
}

var gen = idMaker();

console.log(gen.next().value); // 0
console.log(gen.next().value); // 1
console.log(gen.next().value); // 2
console.log(gen.next().value); // 3
// ...

Example with yield*

function* anotherGenerator(i) {
  yield i + 1;
  yield i + 2;
  yield i + 3;
}

function* generator(i) {
  yield i;
  yield* anotherGenerator(i);
  yield i + 10;
}

var gen = generator(10);

console.log(gen.next().value); // 10
console.log(gen.next().value); // 11
console.log(gen.next().value); // 12
console.log(gen.next().value); // 13
console.log(gen.next().value); // 20

Passing arguments into Generators

function* logGenerator() {
  console.log(0);
  console.log(1, yield);
  console.log(2, yield);
  console.log(3, yield);
}

var gen = logGenerator();

// the first call of next executes from the start of the function
// until the first yield statement
gen.next();             // 0
gen.next('pretzel');    // 1 pretzel
gen.next('california'); // 2 california
gen.next('mayonnaise'); // 3 mayonnaise

Return statement in a generator

function* yieldAndReturn() {
  yield "Y";
  return "R";
  yield "unreachable";
}

var gen = yieldAndReturn()
console.log(gen.next()); // { value: "Y", done: false }
console.log(gen.next()); // { value: "R", done: true }
console.log(gen.next()); // { value: undefined, done: true }

Generators are not constructable

function* f() {}
var obj = new f; // throws "TypeError: f is not a constructor

Generator defined in an expression

const foo = function* () {
  yield 10;
  yield 20;
};

const bar = foo();
console.log(bar.next()); // {value: 10, done: false}

Specifications

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

Firefox-specific notes

Generators and iterators in Firefox versions before 26

Older Firefox versions implement an older version of the generators proposal. In the older version, generators were defined using a regular function keyword (without an asterisk) among other differences. See Legacy generator function for further information.

IteratorResult object returned instead of throwing

Starting with Gecko 29 (Firefox 29 / Thunderbird 29 / SeaMonkey 2.26), the completed generator function no longer throws a TypeError "generator has already finished". Instead, it returns an IteratorResult object like { value: undefined, done: true } (bug 958951).

See also

• function* expression
• GeneratorFunction object
• Iteration protocols
• yield
• yield*
• Function object
• function declaration
• function expression
• Functions and function scope
• Other web resources:
  • Regenerator an ES2015 generator compiler to ES5
  • Forbes Lindesay: Promises and Generators: control flow utopia -- JSConf EU 2013
  • Task.js
  • Iterating generators asynchronously