Console log not printing variable from function

Question

Trying to print the variable 'randomWord' to console.log, but chrome says it is not defined. It looks like it's defined to me. Why won't it print to the console.log?

function strt(){

//get random word from words[] array
var randomWord = words[Math.floor(Math.random()* words.length)];

var wordLength = randomWord.length;


//create a blank boxes or div elements for holding each letter of 
// selected random word
for(i = 0 ; i< wordLength; i++){

var divTag = document.createElement("div");
divTag.id = "div" + i;
divTag.className = 'wordy';
//divTag.innerHTML = randomWord[i];
hangManDiv.appendChild(divTag);

};// end for loop

//disable start button
document.getElementsByName("startB")[0].disabled = true;

return randomWord;

}//end strt()

console.log(randomWord);

Solution

The variable randomWord is out of the scope. You define the variable inside a function, and then call it outside of it.

You should either define the variable out of the function or call it inside of it:

function strt(){
   var randomWord;
   ...
   console.log(randomWord);
   return randomWord;
}//end strt()

Or

var randomWord;
function strt(){
   ...
   return randomWord;
}//end strt()
strt(); // Call the function
console.log(randomWord);

For the latter, consider that randomWord won't have changed when JS executes the console log function; therefore, it will be null. In other words, you must call the function before you log it.