Bug 14102 – eval() to create an anonymous function.

• Status: RESOLVED
• Resolution: INVALID
• Component: JavaScriptCore

[Gregory Nacu]

In previous versions of Safari, and in Firefox I've used (sparingly, and seemingly necessary) an eval() to create an anonymous function that references the object creating the function, then it attaches that anonymous function to the onclick of some other element on the page.  In the 2007-06-12 build of WebKit and in Safari 3 beta, if you eval('function() {alert("test")};') you get a parse error on "line 1"

[Geoffrey Garen]

This is correct behavior. A stand-alone nameless function expression is a syntax error because it's unclear whether the statement is a function expression or a function definition.

The simplest solution is to surround your function expression with parentheses, like so:

eval('(function() { alert("test"); })');

[Geoffrey Garen]

This behavior matches IE6, too.