won't stop executing

[matthew9090]

ive got this code:

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
	$(document).ready(function() {
	  var number = 5;
	  function countdown() {
				setTimeout(countdown, 1000);
				$('#box').html("Selecting person in " + number + " seconds");
				number --;

				if (number<0) {
				keywords = 
				[
				"name1", 
				"name2",
				"name3",
				"name4",
				"name5"
				]
					var keyword = keywords[Math.floor(Math.random()*keywords.length)]
					document.write(keyword);
					number = 0;
				}
	  }
	  countdown();
	});
</script>
<center>
<div id="box">
</div>
</center>

 

it counts down from 5 then chooses a random name but then keeps doing it every second and there is a huge line of names. how can i stop this?

 

[Adam]

That's because on every call to countdown() you're creating another timer, so it will keep running infinitely. You can either create an else clause for your if statement, and move the setTimeout call there - terminating the loop once the name is selected. Or you could use setInterval(), and then clearInterval() once a name is selected.