57
function first(){
  console.log('first')
}
function second(){
  console.log('second')
}
let interval = async ()=>{
  await setInterval(first,2000)
  await setInterval(second,2000)
}
interval();

Imagine that I have this code above.

When I run it, first() and second() will be called at the same time; how do I call second() after first)() returns some data, for example, if first() is done, only then call second()?

Because first() in my code will be working with a big amount of data and if this 2 functions will be calling at the same time, it will be hard for the server.

How do I call second() each time when first() will return some data?

Adriano
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Andrey Radkevich
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    setInterval never resolves since it's a continous repeater. Not sure if you've thought this through. What exactly do you want to achieve? If you want to run calls every 2 seconds and reacting to it, you might be better off writing a solution with RxJs and using Observables. – Lars Holdaas Sep 05 '18 at 11:54
  • Can you explicate your use case? – k0pernikus Sep 05 '18 at 13:34
  • When server started , I want to call some functions with some interval - for example each 15 minutes - but this functions works with big data , I can run 2 functions in the same time , but it will be hard for the server to work with I think , I want to make the same run functions with some interval but , with waiting on when first fucntion done ... for example I have first function after 15 min this function executed , it is executes and second function wait , only when first function done , second function start , and so on each time . Hope it is clear . – Andrey Radkevich Sep 05 '18 at 13:42

9 Answers9

69

As mentioned above setInterval does not play well with promises if you do not stop it. In case you clear the interval you can use it like:

async function waitUntil(condition) {
  return await new Promise(resolve => {
    const interval = setInterval(() => {
      if (condition) {
        resolve('foo');
        clearInterval(interval);
      };
    }, 1000);
  });
}

Later you can use it like

const bar = waitUntil(someConditionHere)
Zhora
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mdikici
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    Though I think the question asked isn't clearly stated, this answer points out the fallacy stated by several people that `setInterval` doesn't play well with promises; it can play very well if the correct logic is supplied (just as any code has its own requirements to run correctly). I fixed some syntax errors but I think the gist of this answer provides better information than the others. (I don't think it really answers the original question but I'm not sure I know exactly what that question is asking myself.) – Zhora Jun 07 '19 at 14:55
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    Then condition should be a callback function. – Long Nguyen Mar 27 '21 at 17:26
  • Really appreciate this! Thank you – Carlo Nyte Apr 08 '21 at 18:57
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    Here, bar will be instantly assigned a pending Promise, and not wait for it to resolve. – Kameneth Feb 02 '23 at 03:15
  • @Kameneth do you mean the last line should be: `const bar = async waitUntil(someConditionHere)`? – icc97 Aug 18 '23 at 10:43
  • @icc97, I mean that the `async` before `waitUntil` declaration and the `await` inside are totaly useless, cause it wont make waitUntil to "wait". `const bar = await waitUntil(someConditionHere)` will do. (and again, no need for any async nor await inside declaration) – Kameneth Aug 19 '23 at 16:41
  • @Kameneth Ah yeah, sorry, I meant `await` too :) – icc97 Aug 19 '23 at 18:40
44

You have a few problems:

  1. Promises may only ever resolve once, setInterval() is meant to call the callback multiple times, Promises do not support this case well.
  2. Neither setInterval(), nor the more appropriate setTimeout() return Promises, therefore, awaiting on them is pointless in this context.

You're looking for a function that returns a Promise which resolves after some times (using setTimeout(), probably, not setInterval()).

Luckily, creating such a function is rather trivial:

async function delay(ms) {
  // return await for better async stack trace support in case of errors.
  return await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
}

With this new delay function, you can implement your desired flow:

function first(){
  console.log('first')
}
function second(){
  console.log('second')
}
let run = async ()=>{
  await delay(2000);
  first();
  await delay(2000)
  second();
}
run();
Madara's Ghost
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8

setInterval doesn't play well with promises because it triggers a callback multiple times, while promise resolves once.

It seems that it's setTimeout that fits the case. It should be promisified in order to be used with async..await:

async () => {
  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(() => resolve(first()), 2000));
  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(() => resolve(second()), 2000));
}
Estus Flask
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4

await expression causes async to pause until a Promise is settled

so you can directly get the promise's result without await

for me, I want to initiate Http request every 1s

let intervalid 
async function testFunction() {
    intervalid = setInterval(() => {
        // I use axios like: axios.get('/user?ID=12345').then
        new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
            resolve('something')
        }).then(res => {
            if (condition) {
               // do something 
            } else {
               clearInterval(intervalid)
            }    
        })  
    }, 1000)  
}
// you can use this function like
testFunction()
// or stop the setInterval in any place by 
clearInterval(intervalid)
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    I don't see why there is an async keyword here. Also, if your promise takes more than one second to resolve, a new one will be created before it can clear the interval if needed. – Kameneth Feb 02 '23 at 03:45
4

You could use an IFFE. This way you could escape the issue of myInterval not accepting Promise as a return type.

There are cases where you need setInterval, because you want to call some function unknown amount of times with some interval in between. When I faced this problem this turned out to be the most straight-forward solution for me. I hope it help someone :)

For me the use case was that I wanted to send logs to CloudWatch but try not to face the Throttle exception for sending more than 5 logs per second. So I needed to keep my logs and send them as a batch in an interval of 1 second. The solution I'm posting here is what I ended up using.

  async function myAsyncFunc(): Promise<string> {
    return new Promise<string>((resolve) => {
      resolve("hello world");
    });
  }

  function myInterval(): void {
    setInterval(() => {
      void (async () => {
        await myAsyncFunc();
      })();
    }, 5_000);
  }

  // then call like so
  myInterval();
G. Spasov
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3

Looked through all the answers but still didn't find the correct one that would work exactly how the OP is asked. This is what I used for the same purpose:

async function waitInterval(callback, ms) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        let iteration = 0;
        const interval = setInterval(async () => {
            if (await callback(iteration, interval)) {
                resolve();
                clearInterval(interval);
            }
            iteration++;
        }, ms);
    });
}

function first(i) {
    console.log(`first: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

function second(i) {
    console.log(`second: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

(async () => {
    console.log('start');
    await waitInterval(first, 1000);
    await waitInterval(second, 1000);
    console.log('finish');
})()

In my example, I also put interval iteration count and the timer itself, just in case the caller would need to do something with it. However, it's not necessary

Ilya Matsuev
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0

In my case, I needed to iterate through a list of images, pausing in between each, and then a longer pause at the end before re-looping through. I accomplished this by combining several techniques from above, calling my function recursively and awaiting a timeout. If at any point another trigger changes my animationPaused:boolean, my recursive function will exit.

    const loopThroughImages = async() => {
      for (let i=0; i<numberOfImages; i++){
        if (animationPaused) {
          return;
        }
        this.updateImage(i);
        await timeout(700);
      }
      await timeout(1000);
      loopThroughImages();
    }

    loopThroughImages();
dpetraz
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  • Combining recursion with loops like this is weird though. Why don't you simply nest two loops? – Bergi Apr 14 '22 at 22:40
  • This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation) you will be able to [comment on any post](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/comment); instead, [provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/214173/why-do-i-need-50-reputation-to-comment-what-can-i-do-instead). - [From Review](/review/late-answers/31540469) – 8ctopus Apr 21 '22 at 17:43
0

Async/await do not make the promises synchronous. To my knowledge, it's just a different syntax for return Promise and .then(). Here i rewrote the async function and left both versions, so you can see what it really does and compare. It's in fact a cascade of Promises.

// by the way no need for async there. the callback does not return a promise, so no need for await.
function waitInterval(callback, ms) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        let iteration = 0;
        const interval = setInterval(async () => {
            if (callback(iteration, interval)) {
                resolve();
                clearInterval(interval);
            }
            iteration++;
        }, ms);
    });
}

function first(i) {
    console.log(`first: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

function second(i) {
    console.log(`second: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

// async function with async/await, this code ...
(async () => {
    console.log('start');
    await waitInterval(first, 1000);
    await waitInterval(second, 1000);
    console.log('finish');
})() //... returns a pending Promise and ...
console.log('i do not wait');

// ... is kinda identical to this code.
// still asynchronous but return Promise statements with then cascade.
(() => {
    console.log('start again');
    return waitInterval(first, 1000).then(() => {
        return waitInterval(second, 1000).then(() => {
                console.log('finish again');
        });
    });
})(); // returns a pending Promise...
console.log('i do not wait either');

You can see the two async functions both execute at the same time. So using promises around intervals here is not very useful, as it's still just intervals, and promises changes nothing, and make things confusing...

As the code is calling callbacks repeatedly into an interval, this is, i think, a cleaner way:

function first(i) {
    console.log(`first: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

function second(i) {
    console.log(`second: ${i}`);
    // If the condition below is true the timer finishes
    return i === 5;
}

function executeThroughTime(...callbacks){
    console.log('start');
    let callbackIndex = 0; // to track current callback.
    let timerIndex = 0; // index given to callbacks
    let interval = setInterval(() =>{
        if (callbacks[callbackIndex](timerIndex++)){ // callback return true when it finishes.
            timerIndex = 0; // resets for next callback
            if (++callbackIndex>=callbacks.length){ // if no next callback finish.
                clearInterval(interval);
                console.log('finish');
            }
        }
    },1000)
}

executeThroughTime(first,second);
console.log('and i still do not wait ;)');

Also, this solution execute a callback every secondes. if the callbacks are async requests that takes more than one sec to resolve, and i can't afford for them to overlap, then, instead of doing iterative call with repetitive interval, i would get the request resolution to call the next request (through a timer if i don't want to harass the server).

Here the "recursive" task is called lTask, does pretty much the same as before, except that, as i do not have an interval anymore, i need a new timer each iteration.

// slow internet request simulation. with a Promise, could be a callback.
function simulateAsync1(i) {
    console.log(`first pending: ${i}`);
    return new Promise((resolve) =>{
        setTimeout(() => resolve('got that first big data'), Math.floor(Math.random()*1000)+ 1000);//simulate request that last between 1 and 2 sec.
    }).then((result) =>{
        console.log(`first solved: ${i} ->`, result);
        return i==2;
    });
}
// slow internet request simulation. with a Promise, could be a callback.
function simulateAsync2(i) {
    console.log(`second pending: ${i}`);
    return new Promise((resolve) =>{
        setTimeout(() => resolve('got that second big data'), Math.floor(Math.random()*1000) + 1000);//simulate request that last between 1 and 2 sec.
    }).then((result) =>{ // promise is resolved
        console.log(`second solved: ${i} ->`,result);
        return i==4; // return a promise
    });
}

function executeThroughTime(...asyncCallbacks){
    console.log('start');
    let callbackIndex = 0;
    let timerIndex = 0;
    let lPreviousTime = Date.now();
    let lTask = () => { // timeout callback.
        asyncCallbacks[callbackIndex](timerIndex++).then((result) => { // the setTimeout for the next task is set when the promise is solved.
            console.log('result',result)
            if (result) { // current callback is done.
                timerIndex = 0;
                if (++callbackIndex>=asyncCallbacks.length){//are all callbacks done ?
                    console.log('finish');
                    return;// its over
                }
            }
            console.log('time elapsed since previous call',Date.now() - lPreviousTime);
            lPreviousTime = Date.now();
            //console.log('"wait" 1 sec (but not realy)');
            setTimeout(lTask,1000);//redo task after 1 sec.
            //console.log('i do not wait');
        });
    }
    lTask();// no need to set a timer for first call.
}

executeThroughTime(simulateAsync1,simulateAsync2);
console.log('i do not wait');

Next step would be to empty a fifo with the interval, and fill it with web request promises...

Kameneth
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0
import {
  setInterval,
} from 'timers/promises';

const interval = 100;
for await (const startTime of setInterval(interval, Date.now())) {
  const now = Date.now();
  console.log(now);
  if ((now - startTime) > 1000)
    break;
}
console.log(Date.now());

Solution for nodejs.

https://nodejs.org/api/timers.html#timerspromisessetintervaldelay-value-options

Yogesh Agrawal
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