async function

Syntax

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

Parameters

name

The function name.

param

The name of an argument to be passed to the function.

statements

The statements comprising the body of the function.

Return value

An AsyncFunction object, representing an asynchronous function which executes the code contained within the function.

Description

When an async function is called, it returns a Promise. When the async function returns a value, the Promise will be resolved with the returned value.  When the async function throws an exception or some value, the Promise will be rejected with the thrown value.

An async function can contain an await expression, that pauses the execution of the async function and waits for the passed Promise's resolution, and then resumes the async function's execution and returns the resolved value.

Examples

Simple example

function resolveAfter2Seconds(x) {
  return new Promise(resolve => {
    setTimeout(() => {
      resolve(x);
    }, 2000);
  });
}


async function add1(x) {
  const a = await resolveAfter2Seconds(20);
  const b = await resolveAfter2Seconds(30);
  return x + a + b;
}

add1(10).then(v => {
  console.log(v);  // prints 60 after 4 seconds.
});


async function add2(x) {
  const p_a = resolveAfter2Seconds(20);
  const p_b = resolveAfter2Seconds(30);
  return x + await p_a + await p_b;
}

add2(10).then(v => {
  console.log(v);  // prints 60 after 2 seconds.
});

Rewriting a promise chain with an async function

An API that returns a Promise will result in a promise chain, and it splits the function into many parts. Consider the following code:

function getProcessedData(url) {
  return downloadData(url) // returns a promise
    .catch(e => {
      return downloadFallbackData(url)  // returns a promise
        .then(v => {
          return processDataInWorker(v); // returns a promise
        }); 
    })
    .then(v => {
      return processDataInWorker(v); // returns a promise
    });
}

it can be rewritten with a single async function as follows:

async function getProcessedData(url) {
  let v;
  try {
    v = await downloadData(url); 
  } catch(e) {
    v = await downloadFallbackData(url);
  }
  return processDataInWorker(v);
}

Note that in the above example, there is no await statement on the return statement, because the return value of an async function is implicitly wrapped in Promise.resolve.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• async function expression
• AsyncFunction object
• await
• "Decorating Async Javascript Functions" on "innolitics.com"