I’m encountering an issue with JavaScript’s setTimeout function where it doesn’t seem to reflect the updated value of a variable.

Here’s a simplified version of my code:

const handleProcessError = (processName, process) => {
    let responseTimeout;
    let responseAlreadySent = false;

    const sendResponse = (status, message, scan_id, scantype, error) => {
        if (!responseAlreadySent) {
            responseAlreadySent = true;
            clearTimeout(responseTimeout);
            if (status === 'Success') {
                console.log('Sending success response', responseAlreadySent);
                res.status(200).json({ status, message });
            } else {
                console.log('Sending error response', responseAlreadySent);
                res.status(500).json({ status, message });
                revertScanAndThrowError(error, processName);
            }
        } else {
            console.log('Response already sent, skipping');
        }
    };

    responseTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
        sendResponse('Success', 'The scan started', inc_val, scantype);
    }, 5000);
    
    let errorOutput = '';
          
              process.stderr.on('data', (data: Buffer) => {
                  errorOutput += data.toString();
              });
    process.on('exit', (code: number, signal: NodeJS.Signals) => {
                  if (code !== 0) {
                      sendResponse('Error', 'Failed to start the scan', null, null, new Error(`Process exited with code ${code}. Error output: ${errorOutput}`));
                  } else {
                      console.log(`${processName} process exited with code 0`);
                  }
              });

    // Other event listeners and handlers...
};

In this code, handleProcessError sets up a timeout function using setTimeout. When an error occurs, it calls sendResponse, which updates the responseAlreadySent flag to true. However, the timeout function still executes, even though the flag has been updated, leading to unexpected behavior.
[enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/FyMrbaAV.png)