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Depending on the context of the discussion in the Angular documentation, the term model can refer to either a single object representing one entity (for example, a model called "phones" with its value being an array of phones) or the entire data model for the application (all entities).

In Angular, a model is any data that is reachable as a property of an angular Scope object. The name of the property is the model identifier and the value is any JavaScript object (including arrays and primitives).

The only requirement for a JavaScript object to be a model in Angular is that the object must be referenced by an Angular scope as a property of that scope object. This property reference can be created explicitly or implicitly.

You can create models by explicitly creating scope properties referencing JavaScript objects in the following ways:

- Make a direct property assignment to the scope object in JavaScript code; this most commonly occurs in controllers:

       function MyCtrl($scope) {
           // create property 'foo' on the MyCtrl's scope
           // and assign it an initial value 'bar'
           $scope.foo = 'bar';
       }

- Use an angular expression with an assignment operator in templates:

       <button ng-click="{{foos='ball'}}">Click me</button>

- Use `ngInit directive` in templates (for toy/example apps only, not recommended for real applications):

       <body ng-init=" foo = 'bar' ">

Angular creates models implicitly (by creating a scope property and assigning it a suitable value) when processing the following template constructs:

- Form input, select, textarea and other form elements:

       <input ng-model="query" value="fluffy cloud">

  The code above creates a model called "query" on the current scope with the value set to "fluffy cloud".

- An iterator declaration in `ngRepeater`:

       <p ng-repeat="phone in phones"></p>

  The code above creates one child scope for each item in the "phones" array and creates a "phone" object (model) on each of these scopes with its value set to the value of "phone" in the array.

In Angular, a JavaScript object stops being a model when:

- No Angular scope contains a property that references the object.

- All Angular scopes that contain a property referencing the object become stale and eligible for garbage collection.

The following illustration shows a simple data model created implicitly from a simple template:

### Related Topics

- About MVC in Angular
- Understanding the Controller Component
- Understanding the View Component