Canceling setInterval in React

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Sometimes you need to run a command in an interval using window.setInterval.

But if you don't stop the interval when the component using the setInterval is not stopped,
it will continuously run using unnecessary resources.

I will talk about how to handle setInterval in React

😅 Reproducing the Issue

Let's create a very "contrived" example that prints "hello world" every second in console.

      
        class Greeting extends Component {
      
          hello = id => console.log(`hello world! - ${id}`);
      
          componentDidMount() {
      
            const id = shortid.generate();
      
            setInterval(e => this.hello(id), 1000);
      
          }
      
          componentWillUnmount() {
      
            console.log("Greeting unmounted...");
      
          }
      
          render() {
      
            return (
      
              <div>
      
                <Link to="/main">Go to Main Page</Link>
      
              </div>
      
            );
      
          }
      
        }

view raw Greeting.js hosted with ❤ by GitHub

View this gist on GitHub

[ Edit setInterval NOT cleared before unmounting

Follow along on CodeSandBox

](https://codesandbox.io/s/0x979w8n5l?expanddevtools=1&initialpath=%2Fmain&moduleview=1&view=preview)

When you navigate away from the component (to simulate unmounting), the interval still runs.

Even worse, when you navigate back to Greeting component, another interval process starts! 😱

Error Reproduced

🔧 How to Fix the Issue

You need to save the interval ID when you call the setInterval.

Reference: WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope.setInterval()

      
        class Greeting extends Component {
      
          intervalID = 0;
      
          componentDidMount() {
      
            this.intervalID = setInterval(this.hello, 1000);
      
          }
      
          ...
      
        }

view raw Get setInterval ID.js hosted with ❤ by GitHub

View this gist on GitHub

To cancel setInterval, you need to call `clearInterval`, which require the interval ID returned when you called setInterval.

The best place to do is right before the component unmounts (componentWillUnmount).

      
        componentWillUnmount() {
      
          clearInterval(this.intervalID);
      
        }

view raw clearInterval.js hosted with ❤ by GitHub

View this gist on GitHub

You can see below that the interval doesn't run any more after canceled within componentWillUmount.

The interval canceled

[ Edit setInterval cleared before unmounting

Try it for yourself

](https://codesandbox.io/s/w7mnz4w0pk?autoresize=1&expanddevtools=1&moduleview=1&view=preview)

	class Greeting extends Component {
	hello = id => console.log(`hello world! - ${id}`);

	componentDidMount() {
	const id = shortid.generate();
	setInterval(e => this.hello(id), 1000);
	}

	componentWillUnmount() {
	console.log("Greeting unmounted...");
	}

	render() {
	return (
	<div>
	<Link to="/main">Go to Main Page</Link>
	</div>
	);
	}
	}

	class Greeting extends Component {
	intervalID = 0;

	componentDidMount() {
	this.intervalID = setInterval(this.hello, 1000);
	}
	...
	}