# What the "addChild"?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-addchild/328431>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [May 16, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-addchild/328431 "2012-05-16T19:29:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lnsiu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@lnsiu](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/lnsiu)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-addchild/328431/1 "2012-05-16T19:29:15Z")

</div>

…or as we say in the flash community wta?

I encountered this trying to clone a textfield from one part of the timeline to another (not successfully, hence this post)

I’ve discovered it is possible to use a reference to a named instance of a movieclip on stage(or textfield) and replace it elsewhere in the swf.

Not a true clone, but a clone nonetheless. well suited for re constructional structures et al. 🙂

```auto

var mc = asdf.fdas;
trace(asdf.fdas.name,asdf.fdas.x,asdf.fdas.parent);

addChild(mc);

trace(asdf.fdas.name,asdf.fdas.x,asdf.fdas.parent);
trace(mc.name,mc.x,mc.parent);

```

```auto

fdas 256 [object MovieClip]
fdas 256 [object MainTimeline]
fdas 256 [object MainTimeline]

```