Create function in for loop

programming flash
1

How would one go about creating a function inside a for loop that does not have a button action attached to it while still having access to the current index number.

This code was found on senocular:

var curr_button; for (var i=1; i<=3; i++){
    curr_button = this["button"+i];
    curr_button.num = i;   
    curr_button.onRelease = function(){ 
        trace(i); // would trace 4 for each button
        trace(this.num); // the value of i when the onRelease was created 
} 
}

This is all great however i would like the functions to just be regular old functions, not button actions (onPress), is this possible?

Thanks, lurker here for years.