Annotated ECMAScript 5.1

‟Ex igne vita”

Annex B (informative) Compatibility # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

B.1 Additional Syntax # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

Past editions of ECMAScript have included additional syntax and semantics for specifying octal literals and octal escape sequences. These have been removed from this edition of ECMAScript. This non-normative annex presents uniform syntax and semantics for octal literals and octal escape sequences for compatibility with some older ECMAScript programs.

B.1.1 Numeric Literals # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

The syntax and semantics of 7.8.3 can be extended as follows except that this extension is not allowed for strict mode code:

Syntax

NumericLiteral ::

DecimalLiteral
HexIntegerLiteral
OctalIntegerLiteral

OctalIntegerLiteral ::

0 OctalDigit
OctalIntegerLiteral OctalDigit

OctalDigit :: one of

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Semantics

B.1.2 String Literals # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

The syntax and semantics of 7.8.4 can be extended as follows except that this extension is not allowed for strict mode code:

Syntax

EscapeSequence ::

CharacterEscapeSequence
OctalEscapeSequence
HexEscapeSequence
UnicodeEscapeSequence

OctalEscapeSequence ::

OctalDigit [lookahead ∉ DecimalDigit]
ZeroToThree OctalDigit [lookahead ∉DecimalDigit]
FourToSeven OctalDigit
ZeroToThree OctalDigit OctalDigit

ZeroToThree :: one of

0 1 2 3

FourToSeven :: one of

4 5 6 7

Semantics

B.2 Additional Properties # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

Some implementations of ECMAScript have included additional properties for some of the standard native objects. This non-normative annex suggests uniform semantics for such properties without making the properties or their semantics part of this standard.

B.2.1 escape (string) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

The escape function is a property of the global object. It computes a new version of a String value in which certain characters have been replaced by a hexadecimal escape sequence.

For those characters being replaced whose code unit value is 0xFF or less, a two-digit escape sequence of the form % xx is used. For those characters being replaced whose code unit value is greater than 0xFF, a four-digit escape sequence of the form %u xxxx is used

When the escape function is called with one argument string, the following steps are taken:

  1. Call ToString(string).

  2. Compute the number of characters in Result(1).

  3. Let R be the empty string.

  4. Let k be 0.

  5. If k equals Result(2), return R.

  6. Get the character (represented as a 16-bit unsigned integer) at position k within Result(1).

  7. If Result(6) is one of the 69 nonblank characters
    “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789@*_+-./”
    then go to step 13.

  8. If Result(6), is less than 256, go to step 11.

  9. Let S be a String containing six characters “%u wxyz” where wxyz are four hexadecimal digits encoding the value of Result(6).

  10. Go to step 14.

  11. Let S be a String containing three characters “% xy” where xy are two hexadecimal digits encoding the value of Result(6).

  12. Go to step 14.

  13. Let S be a String containing the single character Result(6).

  14. Let R be a new String value computed by concatenating the previous value of R and S.

  15. Increase k by 1.

  16. Go to step 5.

NOTE The encoding is partly based on the encoding described in RFC 1738, but the entire encoding specified in this standard is described above without regard to the contents of RFC 1738. This encoding does not reflect changes to RFC 1738 made by RFC 3986.

B.2.2 unescape (string) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

The unescape function is a property of the global object. It computes a new version of a String value in which each escape sequence of the sort that might be introduced by the escape function is replaced with the character that it represents.

When the unescape function is called with one argument string, the following steps are taken:

  1. Call ToString(string).

  2. Compute the number of characters in Result(1).

  3. Let R be the empty String.

  4. Let k be 0.

  5. If k equals Result(2), return R.

  6. Let c be the character at position k within Result(1).

  7. If c is not %, go to step 18.

  8. If k is greater than Result(2)−6, go to step 14.

  9. If the character at position k+1 within Result(1) is not u, go to step 14.

  10. If the four characters at positions k+2, k+3, k+4, and k+5 within Result(1) are not all hexadecimal digits, go to step 14.

  11. Let c be the character whose code unit value is the integer represented by the four hexadecimal digits at positions k+2,k+3, k+4, and k+5 within Result(1).

  12. Increase k by 5.

  13. Go to step 18.

  14. If k is greater than Result(2)−3, go to step 18.

  15. If the two characters at positions k+1 and k+2 within Result(1) are not both hexadecimal digits, go to step 18.

  16. Let c be the character whose code unit value is the integer represented by two zeroes plus the two hexadecimal digits at positions k+1 and k+2 within Result(1).

  17. Increase k by 2.

  18. Let R be a new String value computed by concatenating the previous value of R and c.

  19. Increase k by 1.

  20. Go to step 5.

B.2.3 String.prototype.substr (start, length) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

The substr method takes two arguments, start and length, and returns a substring of the result of converting the this object to a String, starting from character position start and running for length characters (or through the end of the String if length is undefined). If start is negative, it is treated as (sourceLength+start) where sourceLength is the length of the String. The result is a String value, not a String object. The following steps are taken:

  1. Call ToString, giving it the this value as its argument.

  2. Call ToInteger(start).

  3. If length is undefined, use +∞; otherwise call ToInteger(length).

  4. Compute the number of characters in Result(1).

  5. If Result(2) is positive or zero, use Result(2); else use max(Result(4)+Result(2),0).

  6. Compute min(max(Result(3),0), Result(4)–Result(5)).

  7. If Result(6) ≤ 0, return the empty String “”.

  8. Return a String containing Result(6) consecutive characters from Result(1) beginning with the character at position Result(5).

The length property of the substr method is 2.

NOTE The substr function is intentionally generic; it does not require that its this value be a String object. Therefore it can be transferred to other kinds of objects for use as a method.

B.2.4 Date.prototype.getYear ( ) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

NOTE The getFullYear method is preferred for nearly all purposes, because it avoids the “year 2000 problem.”

When the getYear method is called with no arguments, the following steps are taken:

  1. Let t be this time value.

  2. If t is NaN, return NaN.

  3. Return YearFromTime(LocalTime(t)) − 1900.

B.2.5 Date.prototype.setYear (year) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

NOTE The setFullYear method is preferred for nearly all purposes, because it avoids the “year 2000 problem.”

When the setYear method is called with one argument year, the following steps are taken:

  1. Let t be the result of LocalTime(this time value); but if this time value is NaN, let t be +0.

  2. Call ToNumber(year).

  3. If Result(2) is NaN, set the [[PrimitiveValue]] internal property of the this value to NaN and return NaN.

  4. If Result(2) is not NaN and 0 ≤ ToInteger(Result(2)) ≤ 99 then Result(4) is ToInteger(Result(2)) + 1900. Otherwise, Result(4) is Result(2).

  5. Compute MakeDay(Result(4), MonthFromTime(t), DateFromTime(t)).

  6. Compute UTC(MakeDate(Result(5), TimeWithinDay(t))).

  7. Set the [[PrimitiveValue]] internal property of the this value to TimeClip(Result(6)).

  8. Return the value of the [[PrimitiveValue]] internal property of the this value.

B.2.6 Date.prototype.toGMTString ( ) # Ⓣ Ⓔ ① Ⓐ

NOTE The property toUTCString is preferred. The toGMTString property is provided principally for compatibility with old code. It is recommended that the toUTCString property be used in new ECMAScript code.

The Function object that is the initial value of Date.prototype.toGMTString is the same Function object that is the initial value of Date.prototype.toUTCString.