I know node.js run asynchronously, so outer functions execute earlier than the inner. But what is the way to access the notification array outside the for loop? I would like to access all the values in array at once, is this feasible?

var notification=[];

for(var j=0;j

EDIT: If you don't want to use third party libs, this is how to do this in your own code.

/* jshint node:true*/


function getNotifications(responses, callbackToMainProgramLogic) {
    'use strict';
    var results = [];

    function getNotificationAsync(response) {
        getNotification(response.sender_id, function (data) {
            results.push(data);

            if (responses.length) {
                getNotificationAsync(responses.pop());//If there are still responses, launch another async getNotification.
            } else {
                callbackToMainProgramLogic(results);//IF there aren't we're done, and we return to main program flow
            }
        });
    }

    getNotificationAsync(responses.pop());
}

getNotifications(someArrayOfResonses, function (dataFromNotifications) {
    console.log('The collected data: ' + JSON.stringify(dataFromNotifications, 0, 4));
});

If you absolutely must, you could do something ridiculous like this. Your logic in the loopUntilDatReceived would be waiting for array sizes, not waiting for a non-empty string, but the idea is similar, and you shouldn't be using this anyway! :)

var fileData = '';
fs.readFile('blah.js', function (err, data) { //Async operation, similar to your issue.
    'use strict';
    fileData = data;
    console.log('The Data: ' + data);
});

function loopUntilDataReceived() {
    'use strict';
    process.nextTick(function () {//A straight while loop would block the event loop, so we do this once per loop around the event loop.  
        if (fileData === '') {
            console.log('No Data Yet');
            loopUntilDataReceived();
        } else {
            console.log('Finally: ' + fileData);
        }
    });
}

loopUntilDataReceived();

Did I mention this is ridiculous? Honestly, this is an awful idea, but it may help you understand what is going on and how the Node event loop works, and why what you want is not possible. AND why the other posts about callbacks, and flow control libraries are the way to go.