arguments.length
Baseline
Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.
The arguments.length data property contains the number of arguments passed to the function.
Value
A non-negative integer.
Property attributes of arguments.length | |
|---|---|
| Writable | yes |
| Enumerable | no |
| Configurable | yes |
Description
The arguments.length property provides the number of arguments actually passed to a function. This can be more or less than the defined parameter's count (see Function.prototype.length). For example, for the function below:
function func1(a, b, c) {
console.log(arguments.length);
}
func1.length returns 3, because func1 declares three formal parameters. However, func1(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) logs 5, because func1 was called with five arguments. Similarly, func1(1) logs 1, because func1 was called with one argument.
Examples
Using arguments.length
In this example, we define a function that can add two or more numbers together.
function adder(base /*, num1, …, numN */) {
base = Number(base);
for (let i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
base += Number(arguments[i]);
}
return base;
}
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| ECMAScript® 2026 Language Specification # sec-arguments-exotic-objects |
Browser compatibility
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