576

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.

1
  • You might want to check out this post to understand differences between the proposed methods below, like _self and _top which "look-alike". Commented May 18, 2021 at 9:58

16 Answers 16

971

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.

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10 Comments

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.
@ijse Actually, there are a few special names, one of which is '_self' which refers to the win/tab the code is running in. ;)
'_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().
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
_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).
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209

Use this:

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

2 Comments

this is preferred to window.open (per stackoverflow.com/questions/4813879/…)
airbnb linter does not like location.herf. mentioning window at the beginning is the must.
116

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

2 Comments

It doesn't preserve the browsing history, we should not use it. instead try window.open("google.com","_top") reference link geeksforgeeks.org/…
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!
48

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

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

1 Comment

That isn’t the same page. It will remove any query string from the existing URL.
23

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.

Comments

12

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);
}

1 Comment

Or you can just do a.click(); instead of the whole fire click event.
12

Open another url like a click in link

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

Comments

11

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

Comments

6

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 ~~

1 Comment

The question is very clearly about wanting to open in the same window and same tab!
5

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

4 Comments

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.
Your first example is just wrong. _blank is, explicitly, an unnamed new window or tab.
not at all! if I set _self, it will open in current page which is bad for me, I just need one new page.
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.
2

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)
}

Comments

2

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

Comments

1

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.

Comments

0
   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> 

1 Comment

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.
0

You can do

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

and it worked successfully on my website.

Comments

0

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

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

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

Comments

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