FLASH® LITE™ 2.x - Adobe Help and Support

Comparison by reference means that two expressions are equal only if they both refer to the
same object, array, or function. Values inside the object, array, or function are not compared.
When comparing by value, if expression1 and expression2 are different data types,
ActionScript will attempt to convert the data type of expression2 to match that of
expression1.
Operands
expression1 : Object - A number, string, Boolean value, variable, object, array, or
function.
expression2 : Object - A number, string, Boolean value, variable, object, array, or
function.
Returns
Boolean - The Boolean result of the comparison.
Example
The following example illustrates the result of the inequality (!=) operator:
trace(5 != 8); // returns true
trace(5 != 5) //returns false
The following example illustrates the use of the inequality (!=) operator in an if statement:
var a:String = "David";
var b:String = "Fool";
if (a != b) {
trace("David is not a fool");
}
The following example illustrates comparison by reference with two functions:
var a:Function = function() { trace("foo"); };
var b:Function = function() { trace("foo"); };
a(); // foo
b(); // foo
trace(a != b); // true
a = b;
a(); // foo
b(); // foo
trace(a != b); // false
// trace statement output: foo foo true foo foo false
The following example illustrates comparison by reference with two arrays:
var a:Array = [ 1, 2, 3 ];
var b:Array = [ 1, 2, 3 ];
trace(a); // 1, 2, 3
trace(b); // 1, 2, 3
142 ActionScript language elements