ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference - Adobe Help and Support

eval function
eval(expression:Object) : Object
eval(expression:String) : Object
Accesses variables, properties, objects, or movie clips by name. If expression is a variable or a
property, the value of the variable or property is returned. If expression is an object or movie
clip, a reference to the object or movie clip is returned. If the element named in expression
cannot be found, undefined is returned.
In Flash 4, eval() was used to simulate arrays; in Flash 5 or later, you should use the Array
class to simulate arrays.
In Flash 4, you can also use eval() to dynamically set and retrieve the value of a variable or
instance name. However, you can also do this with the array access operator ([]).
In Flash 5 or later, you cannot use eval() to dynamically set and retrieve the value of a
variable or instance name, because you cannot useeval() on the left side of an equation. For
example, replace the code
eval ("var" + i) = "first";
with this:
this["var"+i] = "first"
or this:
set ("var" + i, "first");
Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 5 - Flash Player 5 or later for full functionality.
You can use the eval() function when exporting to Flash Player 4, but you must use slash
notation and can access only variables, not properties or objects.
Parameters
expression:Object - The name of a variable, property, object, or movie clip to retrieve. This
parameter can be either a String or a direct reference to the object instance (i.e use of
quotation marks (" ") is optional.)
Returns
Object - A value, reference to an object or movie clip, or undefined .
Example
The following example uses eval() to set properties for dynamically named movie clips. This
ActionScript sets the _rotation property for three movie clips, called square1_mc,
square2_mc, and square3_mc.
Global Functions 57