In the previous chapters, we have seen how to define a function and invoke a function and pass arguments to it. In general, we can pass a fixed number of arguments to a function. While programming, we may face situations where we need to pass variable arguments to these functions. In JavaScript, we use objects to accept variable number of arguments to a function.

CoffeeScript provides a feature called splats to pass multiple arguments to functions. We use splats in functions by placing three dots after the argument name and, it is denoted by …

Syntax

Given below is the syntax of accepting multiple arguments within a function using splats.

my_function = (arguments...)->
   ............
   ............
   ............

Example

Following is an example of accepting multiple arguments within a function, using splats. Here we have defined a function named indian_team() using splats. We are calling this function thrice and we are passing 4 players, 6 players, and full squad simultaneously, each time we call it. Since we have used splats in the function definition, it accepts variable number of arguments each time we call it. Save this code in a file with name splats_definition.coffee

indian_team = (first, second, others...) ->
  Captain = first
  WiseCaptain = second
  team  = others
  console.log "Captain: " +Captain
  console.log "Wise captain: " +WiseCaptain
  console.log "Other team members: " +team

#Passing 4 arguments
console.log "############## Four Players ############"
indian_team "Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma"

#Passing 6 arguments
console.log "############## Six Players ############"
indian_team "Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan"
  
#Passing full squad
console.log "############## Full squad #############"
indian_team "Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan", "Ravindra Jadeja", "Axar Patel", "Jasprit Bumrah", "Umesh Yadav", "Harbhajan Singh", "Ashish Nehra", "Hardik Pandya", "Suresh Raina", "Yuvraj Singh", "Ajinkya Rahane"

Open the command prompt and compile the .coffee file as shown below.

c:> coffee -c splats_definition.coffee

On compiling, it gives you the following JavaScript.

// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.10.0
(function() {
  var indian_team,
    slice = [].slice;

  indian_team = function() {
    var Captain, WiseCaptain, first, others, second, team;
    first = arguments[0], second = arguments[1], others = 3 <= arguments.length ? slice.call(arguments, 2) : [];
    Captain = first;
    WiseCaptain = second;
    team = others;
    console.log("Captain: " + Captain);
    console.log("Wise captain: " + WiseCaptain);
    return console.log("Other team members: " + team);
  };

  console.log("############## Four Players ############");

  indian_team("Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma");

  console.log("############## Six Players ############");

  indian_team("Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan");

  console.log("############## Full squad #############");

  indian_team("Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan", "Ravindra Jadeja", "Axar Patel", "Jasprit Bumrah", "Umesh Yadav", "Harbhajan Singh", "Ashish Nehra", "Hardik Pandya", "Suresh Raina", "Yuvraj Singh", "Ajinkya Rahane");

}).call(this); 

Now, open the command prompt again and run the CoffeeScript file as shown below.

c:> coffee splats_definition.coffee

On executing, the CoffeeScript file produces the following output.

############## Four Players ############
Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Other team members: Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma
############## Six Players ############
Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Other team members: Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma,Gurkeerat Singh Mann,Rishi Dhawan
############## Full squad #############
Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Other team members: Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma,Gurkeerat Singh Mann,Rishi Dhawan,Ravindra Jadeja,Axar Patel,Jasprit Bumrah,Umesh Yadav,Harbhajan Singh,Ashish Nehra,Hardik Pandya,Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh,Ajinkya Rahane 

Calling Functions using Splats

We can also call a function using splats. For that, we have to create an array holding the elements we need to pass to the function, and we have to call the function by passing the array suffixed by three dots as shown below.

my_function values...

Example

Following is an example of calling a function using splats. Save this code in a file with name splats_call.coffee

indian_team = (first, second, others...) ->
  Captain = first
  WiseCaptain = second
  team  = others
  console.log "Captain: " +Captain
  console.log "Wise captain: " +WiseCaptain
  console.log "Other team members: " +team

squad = [
   "Mahendra Singh Dhoni"
   "Virat Kohli"
   "Shikhar Dhawan"
   "Rohit Sharma"   
   "Gurkeerat Singh Mann"
   "Rishi Dhawan"
   "R Ashwin"
   "Ravindra Jadeja"
   "Axar Patel"
   "Jasprit Bumrah"
   "Umesh Yadav"
   "Harbhajan Singh"
   "Ashish Nehra"
   "Hardik Pandya"
   "Suresh Raina"
   "Yuvraj Singh"
   "Ajinkya Rahane"
 ]

indian_team squad...

Open the command prompt and compile the .coffee file as shown below.

c:> coffee -c splats_call.coffee

On compiling, it gives you the following JavaScript.

// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.10.0
(function() {
  var indian_team, squad,
    slice = [].slice;

  indian_team = function() {
    var Captain, WiseCaptain, first, others, second, team;
    first = arguments[0], second = arguments[1], others = 3 <= arguments.length ? slice.call(arguments, 2) : [];
    Captain = first;
    WiseCaptain = second;
    team = others;
    console.log("Captain: " + Captain);
    console.log("Wise captain: " + WiseCaptain);
    return console.log("Other team members: " + team);
  };

  squad = ["Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan", "R Ashwin", "Ravindra Jadeja", "Axar Patel", "Jasprit Bumrah", "Umesh Yadav", "Harbhajan Singh", "Ashish Nehra", "Hardik Pandya", "Suresh Raina", "Yuvraj Singh", "Ajinkya Rahane"];

  indian_team.apply(null, squad);

}).call(this);

Now, open the command prompt again and run the CoffeeScript file as shown below.

c:> coffee splats_call.coffee

On executing, the CoffeeScript file produces the following output.

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Other team members: Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma,Gurkeerat Singh Mann,Rishi Dhawan,R Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja,Axar Patel,Jasprit Bumrah,Umesh Yadav,Harbhajan Singh,Ashish Nehra,Hardik Pandya,Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh,Ajinkya Rahane

Splats with a Tailing Argument

We can also pass tailing arguments to splats. In the example given below, we have passed a tailing argument named last after the splat. Save this example in a file with the name tailing_arguments.coffee

indian_team = (first, second, others..., last) ->
  Captain = first
  WiseCaptain = second
  team  = others
  Wicketkeeper =last
  console.log "Captain: " +Captain
  console.log "Wise captain: " +WiseCaptain
  console.log "Wicket keeper is:"+last
  console.log "Other team members: " +team  
  
squad = [
   "Mahendra Singh Dhoni"
   "Virat Kohli"
   "Shikhar Dhawan"
   "Rohit Sharma"   
   "Gurkeerat Singh Mann"
   "Rishi Dhawan"
   "R Ashwin"
   "Ravindra Jadeja"
   "Axar Patel"
   "Jasprit Bumrah"
   "Umesh Yadav"
   "Harbhajan Singh"
   "Ashish Nehra"
   "Hardik Pandya"
   "Suresh Raina"
   "Yuvraj Singh"
   "Ajinkya Rahane"
 ]

indian_team squad...

Open the command prompt and compile the .coffee file as shown below.

c:> coffee -c tailing_arguments.coffee

On compiling, it gives you the following JavaScript.

// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.10.0
(function() {
  var indian_team, squad,
    slice = [].slice;

  indian_team = function() {
    var Captain, Wicketkeeper, WiseCaptain, first, i, last, others, second, team;
    first = arguments[0], second = arguments[1], others = 4 <= arguments.length ? slice.call(arguments, 2, i = arguments.length - 1) : (i = 2, []), last = arguments[i++];
    Captain = first;
    WiseCaptain = second;
    team = others;
    Wicketkeeper = last;
    console.log("Captain: " + Captain);
    console.log("Wise captain: " + WiseCaptain);
    console.log("Wicket keeper is:" + last);
    return console.log("Other team members: " + team);
  };

  squad = ["Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan", "R Ashwin", "Ravindra Jadeja", "Axar Patel", "Jasprit Bumrah", "Umesh Yadav", "Harbhajan Singh", "Ashish Nehra", "Hardik Pandya", "Suresh Raina", "Yuvraj Singh", "Ajinkya Rahane"];

  indian_team.apply(null, squad);

}).call(this);

Now, open the command prompt again and run the CoffeeScript file as shown below.

c:> coffee tailing_arguments.coffee

On executing, the CoffeeScript file produces the following output.

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Wicket keeper is:Ajinkya Rahane
Other team members: Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma,Gurkeerat Singh Mann,Rishi Dhawan,R Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja,Axar Patel,Jasprit Bumrah,Umesh Yadav,Harbhajan Singh,Ashish Nehra,Hardik Pandya,Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh

Comprehensions with Splats

Within the function, we can also iterate the elements of a splat using comprehensions as shown in the following example. Save this code in a file with the name splats_comprehensions.coffee

indian_team = (first, second, others...) ->
  Captain = first
  WiseCaptain = second
  team  = others
  console.log "Captain: " +Captain
  console.log "Wise captain: " +WiseCaptain
  console.log "Other team members:: "
  console.log member for member in others

squad = [
   "Mahendra Singh Dhoni"
   "Virat Kohli"
   "Shikhar Dhawan"
   "Rohit Sharma"   
   "Gurkeerat Singh Mann"
   "Rishi Dhawan"
   "R Ashwin"
   "Ravindra Jadeja"
   "Axar Patel"
   "Jasprit Bumrah"
   "Umesh Yadav"
   "Harbhajan Singh"
   "Ashish Nehra"
   "Hardik Pandya"
   "Suresh Raina"
   "Yuvraj Singh"
   "Ajinkya Rahane"
 ]

indian_team squad...

Open the command prompt and compile the .coffee file as shown below.

c:> coffee -c splats_comprehensions.coffee

On compiling, it gives you the following JavaScript.

// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.10.0
(function() {
  var indian_team, squad,
    slice = [].slice;

  indian_team = function() {
    var Captain, WiseCaptain, first, i, len, member, others, results, second, team;
    first = arguments[0], second = arguments[1], others = 3 <= arguments.length ? slice.call(arguments, 2) : [];
    Captain = first;
    WiseCaptain = second;
    team = others;
    console.log("Captain: " + Captain);
    console.log("Wise captain: " + WiseCaptain);
    console.log("Other team members:: ");
    results = [];
    for (i = 0, len = others.length; i < len; i++) {
      member = others[i];
      results.push(console.log(member));
    }
    return results;
  };

  squad = ["Mahendra Singh Dhoni", "Virat Kohli", "Shikhar Dhawan", "Rohit Sharma", "Gurkeerat Singh Mann", "Rishi Dhawan", "R Ashwin", "Ravindra Jadeja", "Axar Patel", "Jasprit Bumrah", "Umesh Yadav", "Harbhajan Singh", "Ashish Nehra", "Hardik Pandya", "Suresh Raina", "Yuvraj Singh", "Ajinkya Rahane"];

  indian_team.apply(null, squad);

}).call(this);

Now, open the command prompt again and run the CoffeeScript file as shown below.

c:> coffee splats_comprehensions.coffee

On executing, the CoffeeScript file produces the following output.

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Wise captain: Virat Kohli
Other team members::
Shikhar Dhawan
Rohit Sharma
Gurkeerat Singh Mann
Rishi Dhawan
R Ashwin
Ravindra Jadeja
Axar Patel
Jasprit Bumrah
Umesh Yadav
Harbhajan Singh
Ashish Nehra
Hardik Pandya
Suresh Raina
Yuvraj Singh
Ajinkya Rahane