# How to reference an exhisting movieclip via it's instance name?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-reference-an-exhisting-movieclip-via-its-instance-name/274257>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [October 27, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-reference-an-exhisting-movieclip-via-its-instance-name/274257 "2008-10-27T18:16:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![caraticus](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/caraticus/32/4195_2.png) [@caraticus](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/caraticus)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-reference-an-exhisting-movieclip-via-its-instance-name/274257/1 "2008-10-27T18:16:19Z")

</div>

Hi,

I’m wondering how to properly reference a movieclip from the document class that’s already on stage, (manually created and placed). I’ve created a movieclip that has a couple levels to it and I’m trying to access it using an array that contains the instance names of the mcs

so it’s like this:

```auto
private var _overLays:Overlays = new Overlays;
private var _overBtnNames:Array = new Array("grBtn", "mmBtn");

for (var i = 0; i<_overBtnNames.length; i++) {
	_overlays.designBtns.overBtnNames*.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, zoomScene);
}

```

I realize the problem is that \_overBtnNames\* is a string and it needs to be a MovieClip object… I’ve tried (\_overBtnNames\* as MovieClip) and similar approaches with no success. Any ideas?