Web/API/WindowEventHandlers/onhashchange

The WindowEventHandlers.onhashchange property of the WindowEventHandlers mixin is the EventHandler for processing hashchange events.

The hashchange event fires when a window's hash changes (see Window.location and HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.hash).

Syntax

Using an event handler:

window.onhashchange = funcRef;

Using an HTML event handler:

<body onhashchange="funcRef();">

Using an event listener:

To add an event listener, use addEventListener():

window.addEventListener("hashchange", funcRef, false);

Parameters

funcRef: A reference to a function.

Examples

Using an event handler

This example uses an event handler (window.onhashchange) to check the new hash value whenever it changes. If it equals #cool-feature, the script logs a message to the console.

function locationHashChanged() {
  if (location.hash === '#cool-feature') {
    console.log("You're visiting a cool feature!");
  }
}

window.onhashchange = locationHashChanged;

Using an event listener

This example uses an event listener to log a notification whenever the hash has changed.

function hashHandler() {
  console.log('The hash has changed!');
}

window.addEventListener('hashchange', hashHandler, false);

Overriding the hash

This function sets a new hash dynamically, setting it randomly to one of two values.

function changeHash() {
  location.hash = (Math.random() > 0.5) ? 'location1' : 'location2';
}

The hashchange event

The dispatched hashchange event has the following properties:

Field	Type	Description
`newURL`	`DOMString`	The new URL to which the window is navigating.
`oldURL`	`DOMString`	The previous URL from which the window was navigated.

Polyfill for event.newURL and event.oldURL

// Let this snippet run before your hashchange event binding code
if (!window.HashChangeEvent)(function(){
  var lastURL = document.URL;
  window.addEventListener("hashchange", function(event){
    Object.defineProperty(event, "oldURL", {enumerable:true,configurable:true,value:lastURL});
    Object.defineProperty(event, "newURL", {enumerable:true,configurable:true,value:document.URL});
    lastURL = document.URL;
  });
}());

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'onhashchange' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML 5.1The definition of 'GlobalEventHandlers' in that specification.	Recommendation
HTML5The definition of 'GlobalEventHandlers' in that specification.	Recommendation

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
`onhashchange`	Chrome Full support 5	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.6	IE Full support 8	Opera Full support 10	Safari Full support 5	WebView Android Full support ≤37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 5	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support