Calling multiple methods on a single movie clip

You can use the with statement to address a movie clip once, and then execute a series of methods on that clip. The with statement works on all ActionScript objects (for example, Array, Color, and Sound), not just movie clips.

The with statement takes an object as a parameter. The object you specify is added to the end of the current target path. All actions nested inside a with statement are carried out inside the new target path, or scope. For example, in the following script, the with statement is passed the object donut.hole to change the properties of hole:

with (donut.hole){
  _alpha = 20;
  _xscale = 150;
  _yscale = 150;
}

The script behaves as if the statements inside the with statement were called from the Timeline of the hole instance. The above code is equivalent to the following:

donut.hole._alpha = 20;
donut.hole._xscale = 150;
donut.hole._yscale = 150;

The above code is also equivalent to the following:

with (donut){
  hole._alpha = 20;
  hole._xscale = 150;
  hole._yscale = 150;
}