Open URL in same window and in same tab

Question

I want to open a link in the same window and in the same tab that contains the page with the link.

When I try to open a link by using window.open, then it opens in new tab—not in the same tab in the same window.

Crozier

You might want to check out this post to understand differences between the proposed methods below, like _self and _top which "look-alike". – Clementius

Answer 1

You need to use the name attribute:

window.open("https://www.youraddress.com","_self")

Edit: Url should be prepended with protocol. Without it tries to open relative url. Tested in Chrome 59, Firefox 54 and IE 11.

Podiatry

The second argument is just a name to the new window, like the attribute target= of tag a. In fact, you can name your window whatever you like. All what you need is set it different value, so that it won't open in the same window or tab. – Jahn

@Jahn Actually, there are a few special names, one of which is '_self' which refers to the win/tab the code is running in. ;) – Podiatry

'_self' is not specified in the MDN [developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open] docs on window.open(). A more cross-browser solution is to use location.replace(). – Arabian

The MDN link in the comment above is auto-linking to a 404. Link is developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open – Vernitavernoleninsk

_self is mentioned in section 5.1.6 Browsing context names of the HTML5 W3C Recommendation 28 October 2014 at: w3.org/TR/html/browsers.html#browsing-context-names (but window.location is still cleaner). – Deadhead

$window("www.address.com", "_self") - works also in angular way – Aiguille

Its not working, Well don't know the reason. I tried window.location.href="....." – Cardsharp

@Cardsharp Yah. None of these solutions work for me either x). I actually WANT to open a file relative to the one i open from. Maybe firefox doesnt understand it? cleaning cashe or something needed? without the "_self" part it opens but in new window xP I did try "_blank" as per: support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1165910 and now it works. – Goniometer

does it have to be "_self"? I tried it with other string names like 'testabcd' and it works – Heiskell

in my case the option with "_self" was perfect and allowed me to "visit" download links without leaving the page, hence not losing the base information context. – Coastguardsman

Answer 2

Use this:

location.href = "http://example.com";

Permanence

this is preferred to window.open (per #4814379) – Coth

airbnb linter does not like location.herf. mentioning window at the beginning is the must. – Benefaction

Answer 3

In order to ensure that the link is opened in the same tab, you should use window.location.replace()

See the example below:

window.location.replace("http://www.w3schools.com");

Source: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/met_loc_replace.asp

Culliton

It doesn't preserve the browsing history, we should not use it. instead try window.open("google.com","_top") reference link geeksforgeeks.org/… – Weltanschauung

I am using this as part of an internal addon for internal pages and it's perfect. Browser history isn't really an issue as it's for automation and those using it have no business going to any of the pages manually. Thanks for the snippet! – Fugacious

Answer 4

You can have it go to the same page without specifying the url:

window.open('?','_self');

Vortex

That isn’t the same page. It will remove any query string from the existing URL. – Warpath

Answer 5

If you have your pages inside "frame" then "Window.open('logout.aspx','_self')"

will be redirected inside same frame. So by using

"Window.open('logout.aspx','_top')"

we can load the page as new request.

Purdum

Answer 6

One of the most prominent javascript features is to fire onclick handlers on the fly. I found following mechanism more reliable than using location.href='' or location.reload() or window.open:

// this function can fire onclick handler for any DOM-Element
function fireClickEvent(element) {
    var evt = new window.MouseEvent('click', {
        view: window,
        bubbles: true,
        cancelable: true
    });

    element.dispatchEvent(evt);
}

// this function will setup a virtual anchor element
// and fire click handler to open new URL in the same room
// it works better than location.href=something or location.reload()
function openNewURLInTheSameWindow(targetURL) {
    var a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = targetURL;
    fireClickEvent(a);
}

Above code is also helpful to open new tab/window and bypassing all pop-up blockers!!! E.g.

function openNewTabOrNewWindow(targetURL) {
    var a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = targetURL;

    a.target = '_blank'; // now it will open new tab/window and bypass any popup blocker!

    fireClickEvent(a);
}

Compile

Or you can just do a.click(); instead of the whole fire click event. – Orabelle

Answer 7

Open another url like a click in link

window.location.href = "http://example.com";

Soche

Answer 8

Do you have to use window.open? What about using window.location="http://example.com"?

Submarginal

Answer 9

window.open(url, wndname, params), it has three arguments. if you don't want it open in the same window, just set a different wndname. such as :

window.open(url1, "name1", params); // this open one window or tab
window.open(url1, "name2", params); // though url is same, but it'll open in another window(tab).

Here is the details about window.open(), you can trust it!
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/window.open

have a try ~~

Jahn

The question is very clearly about wanting to open in the same window and same tab! – Sailer

Answer 10

open url in the current tab page using _self

const autoOpenAlink = (url = ``) => {
  window.open(url, "open testing page in a same tab page");
}

<a
 href="https://cdn.xgqfrms.xyz/index.html"
 target="_self"
 onclick="autoOpenAlink('https://cdn.xgqfrms.xyz/index.html')">
   open url in the current tab page using `_self`
</a>

open url in a new tab page using _blank

const autoOpenAlink = (url = ``) => {
  window.open(url, "open testing page in a new tab page");
}

// ❌  The error is caused by a `StackOverflow` limitation
// js:18 Blocked opening 'https://cdn.xgqfrms.xyz/index.html' in a new window because the request was made in a sandboxed frame whose 'allow-popups' permission is not set.

<a
 href="https://cdn.xgqfrms.xyz/index.html"
 target="_blank"
 onclick="autoOpenAlink('https://cdn.xgqfrms.xyz/index.html')">
   open url in a new tab page using `_blank`
</a>

refs

According to MDN's docs, you just need to give one name of the new window/tab.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open#Syntax

Alainaalaine

You can’t reliably know the name of the current window. Better to follow the advice from this 2011 answer and use the special _self name. – Warpath

Your first example is just wrong. _blank is, explicitly, an unnamed new window or tab. – Warpath

not at all! if I set _self, it will open in current page which is bad for me, I just need one new page. – Alainaalaine

The question isn't about what you need! If you want to answer a question about what you need, then find a question asking for that. – Warpath

Answer 11

With html 5 you can use history API.

history.pushState({
  prevUrl: window.location.href

}, 'Next page', 'http://localhost/x/next_page');
history.go();

Then on the next page you can access state object like so

let url = history.state.prevUrl;
if (url) {
  console.log('user come from: '+ url)
}

Sessions

Answer 12

Exactly like this window.open("www.youraddress.com","_self")

Secateurs

Answer 13

Thats pretty easy. Open first window as window.open(url, <tabNmae>)

Example: window.open("abc.com",'myTab')

and for next all window.open, use same tab name instead of _self, _parent etc.

Stylographic

Answer 14

   Just Try in button.

   <button onclick="location.reload();location.href='url_name'" 
   id="myButton" class="btn request-callback" >Explore More</button>

   Using href 

  <a href="#" class="know_how" onclick="location.reload();location.href='url_name'">Know More</a> 

Tiffin

It make no sense at all to trigger a reload of the current page and then cancel it in the next statement by loading a new page. – Warpath

Answer 15

You can do

window.close();
window.open("index.html");

and it worked successfully on my website.

Bagatelle

Answer 16

if you are using APP SCRIPT then this is the solution:

<a id='someID' href='<?= ScriptApp.getService().getUrl(); ?>?requiredTab' hidden></a>

$("#someID")[0].click();

Belvabelvedere