How To Use Timers and Intervals in JavaScript

In JavaScript, timers and intervals are used to schedule the execution of code at a specific time or at regular intervals. Timers and intervals are commonly used to perform actions like updating a countdown timer, or checking for new data from a server.

There are two types of timers and intervals in JavaScript: setTimeout() and setInterval().

The setTimeout() function is used to schedule the execution of a piece of code at a specific time in the future. The setTimeout() function takes two arguments: a callback function to be executed, and a delay in milliseconds.

Here is an example of using setTimeout() in JavaScript:

// Define a callback function
function sayHello() {
  console.log('Hello');
}

// Use setTimeout() to schedule the callback function to be executed in 1000 milliseconds
setTimeout(sayHello, 1000);

In this example, we are defining a callback function named sayHello() that logs a message to the console. We are then using setTimeout() to schedule the sayHello() function to be executed in 1000 milliseconds. When the code is executed, the setTimeout() function will wait 1000 milliseconds and then execute the sayHello() function.


The setInterval() function is similar to setTimeout(), but it is used to schedule the repeated execution of a piece of code at regular intervals. The setInterval() function also takes two arguments: a callback function to be executed, and a delay in milliseconds.

Here is an example of using setInterval() in JavaScript:

// Define a callback function
function sayHello() {
  console.log('Hello');
}

// Use setInterval() to schedule the callback function to be executed every 1000 milliseconds
setInterval(sayHello, 1000);

In this example, we are defining a callback function named sayHello() that logs a message to the console. We are then using setInterval() to schedule the sayHello() function to be executed every 1000 milliseconds. When the code is executed, the setInterval() function will execute the sayHello() function every 1000 milliseconds.

This shows how we can use setTimeout() and setInterval() to schedule the execution of code at specific times or at regular intervals in JavaScript.

I hope you find this useful. Please comment if you have any questions.