number values with leading zeros mystery....

[ingofutz]

this is spooky...

i can do this:
myArray = [];
myArray.push(01);
trace(myArray[0]) //returns 1

and this:
myArray = [];
myArray.push(10);
trace(myArray[0]) //returns 10

but i can't do this?
myArray = [];
myArray.push(09);
(won't publish)

why?

[jbum]

In actionscript (and in C), numbers with leading zeros are considered to be in octal (base 8). 8, 9 is not a valid octal digit, so 08 and 09 generate syntax errors.

Check this out:

trace(01);
trace(02);
trace(03);
trace(04);
trace(05);
trace(06);
trace(07);
trace(010); // says 8
trace(011); // says 9
trace(012); // says 10

Incidentally, although this feature has been common in C-based languages since the inception of C, I know of no practical use for octal these days.

I almost always use either decimal (123) or hexidecimal (0xabc).

- jim

[ingofutz]

woah far out man... octal

thanks for that explaination, that was really perplexing me!