Web/API/History API

The DOM Window object provides access to the browser's session history (not to be confused for [[../../../Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/history|WebExtensions history]]) through the history object. It exposes useful methods and properties that let you navigate back and forth through the user's history, and manipulate the contents of the history stack.

Concepts and usage

Moving backward and forward through the user's history is done using the back(), forward(), and go() methods.

Moving forward and backward

To move backward through history:

window.history.back()

This acts exactly as if the user clicked on the Back button in their browser toolbar.

Similarly, you can move forward (as if the user clicked the Forward button), like this:

window.history.forward()

Moving to a specific point in history

You can use the go() method to load a specific page from session history, identified by its relative position to the current page. (The current page's relative position is 0.)

To move back one page (the equivalent of calling back()):

window.history.go(-1)

To move forward a page, just like calling forward():

window.history.go(1)

Similarly, you can move forward 2 pages by passing 2, and so forth.

Another use for the go() method is to refresh the current page by either passing 0, or by invoking it without an argument:

// The following statements
// both have the effect of
// refreshing the page
window.history.go(0)
window.history.go()

You can determine the number of pages in the history stack by looking at the value of the length property:

let numberOfEntries = window.history.length

Interfaces

History: Allows manipulation of the browser session history (that is, the pages visited in the tab or frame that the current page is loaded in).

Examples

The following example assigns a listener to the onpopstate property. And then illustrates some of the methods of the history object to add, replace, and move within the browser history for the current tab.

window.onpopstate = function(event) {
  alert(`location: ${document.location}, state: ${JSON.stringify(event.state)}`)
}

history.pushState({page: 1}, "title 1", "?page=1")
history.pushState({page: 2}, "title 2", "?page=2")
history.replaceState({page: 3}, "title 3", "?page=3")
history.back() // alerts "location: http://example.com/example.html?page=1, state: {"page":1}"
history.back() // alerts "location: http://example.com/example.html, state: null"
history.go(2)  // alerts "location: http://example.com/example.html?page=3, state: {"page":3}"

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'History' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change from HTML5.
HTML5The definition of 'History' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`History`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 3	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
`back`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
`forward`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
`go`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
`length`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
`pushState`	Chrome Full support 5	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Until Firefox 5, the passed object is serialized using JSON. Starting in Firefox 6, the object is serialized using the structured clone algorithm. This allows a wider variety of objects to be safely passed.	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 11.5	Safari Full support 5	WebView Android Full support ≤37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Until Firefox 5, the passed object is serialized using JSON. Starting in Firefox 6, the object is serialized using the structured clone algorithm. This allows a wider variety of objects to be safely passed.	Opera Android Full support 11.5	Safari iOS Full support 4.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
`replaceState`	Chrome Full support 5	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Until Firefox 5, the passed object is serialized using JSON. Starting in Firefox 6, the object is serialized using the structured clone algorithm. This allows a wider variety of objects to be safely passed.	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 11.5	Safari Full support 5	WebView Android Full support ≤37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Until Firefox 5, the passed object is serialized using JSON. Starting in Firefox 6, the object is serialized using the structured clone algorithm. This allows a wider variety of objects to be safely passed.	Opera Android Full support 11.5	Safari iOS Full support 4.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
`scrollRestoration`	Chrome Full support 46	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 46	IE No support No	Opera Full support 33	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 46	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0
`state`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.

Web/API/History API

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