unref()

unref()

The opaque value returned by setTimeout and setInterval also has the method timer.unref() which allows the creation of a timer that is active but if it is the only item left in the event loop, it won't keep the program running. If the timer is already unrefd calling unref again will have no effect.

In the case of setTimeout, unref creates a separate timer that will wakeup the event loop, creating too many of these may adversely effect event loop performance -- use wisely.

Returns the timer.