← 5 Loading Web pagesTable of contents5.7 Offline Web applications →
    1. 5.5 Session history and navigation
      1. 5.5.1 The session history of browsing contexts
      2. 5.5.2 The History interface
      3. 5.5.3 The Location interface
    2. 5.6 Browsing the Web
      1. 5.6.1 History traversal
      2. 5.6.2 Unloading documents

5.5 Session history and navigation

5.5.1 The session history of browsing contexts

The sequence of Documents in a browsing context is its session history.

History objects provide a representation of the pages in the session history of browsing contexts. Each browsing context, including nested browsing contexts, has a distinct session history.

Each Document object in a browsing context's session history is associated with a unique instance of the History object, although they all must model the same underlying session history.

History objects represent their browsing context's session history as a flat list of session history entries. Each session history entry consists of a URL and optionally a state object.

Titles associated with session history entries need not have any relation with the current title of the Document. The title of a session history entry is intended to explain the state of the document at that point, so that the user can navigate the document's history.

URLs without associated state objects are added to the session history as the user (or script) navigates from page to page.

A state object is an object representing a user interface state.

Pages can add state objects between their entry in the session history and the next ("forward") entry. These are then returned to the script when the user (or script) goes back in the history, thus enabling authors to use the "navigation" metaphor even in one-page applications.

State objects are intended to be used for two main purposes: first, storing a preparsed description of the state in the URL so that in the simple case an author doesn't have to do the parsing (though one would still need the parsing for handling URLs passed around by users, so it's only a minor optimization), and second, so that the author can store state that one wouldn't store in the URL because it only applies to the current Document instance and it would have to be reconstructed if a new Document were opened.

An example of the latter would be something like keeping track of the precise coordinate from which a popup div was made to animate, so that if the user goes back, it can be made to animate to the same location. Or alternatively, it could be used to keep a pointer into a cache of data that would be fetched from the server based on the information in the URL, so that when going back and forward, the information doesn't have to be fetched again.


At any point, one of the entries in the session history is the current entry. This is the entry representing the active document of the browsing context. Which entry is the current entry is changed by the algorithms defined in this specification, e.g. during session history traversal.

The current entry is usually an entry for the location of the Document. However, it can also be one of the entries for state objects added to the history by that document.

An entry with persisted user state is one that also has user-agent defined state. This specification does not specify what kind of state can be stored.

For example, some user agents might want to persist the scroll position, or the values of form controls.

User agents that persist the value of form controls are encouraged to also persist their directionality (the value of the element's dir attribute). This prevents values from being displayed incorrectly after a history traversal when the user had originally entered the values with an explicit, non-default directionality.

Entries that consist of state objects share the same Document as the entry for the page that was active when they were added.

Contiguous entries that differ just by fragment identifier also share the same Document.

All entries that share the same Document (and that are therefore merely different states of one particular document) are contiguous by definition.

Each Document in a browsing context can also have a latest entry. This is the entry or that Document that was most the recently traversed to. When a Document is created, it initially has no latest entry.

5.5.2 The History interface

interface History {
  readonly attribute long length;
  readonly attribute any state;
  void go(optional long delta);
  void back();
  void forward();
  void pushState(any data, DOMString title, optional DOMString? url);
  void replaceState(any data, DOMString title, optional DOMString? url);
};
window . history . length

Returns the number of entries in the joint session history.

window . history . state

Returns the current state object.

window . history . go( [ delta ] )

Goes back or forward the specified number of steps in the joint session history.

A zero delta will reload the current page.

If the delta is out of range, does nothing.

window . history . back()

Goes back one step in the joint session history.

If there is no previous page, does nothing.

window . history . forward()

Goes forward one step in the joint session history.

If there is no next page, does nothing.

window . history . pushState(data, title [, url ] )

Pushes the given data onto the session history, with the given title, and, if provided, the given URL.

window . history . replaceState(data, title [, url ] )

Updates the current entry in the session history to have the given data, title, and, if provided, URL.

The joint session history of a History object is the union of all the session histories of all browsing contexts of all the fully active Document objects that share the History object's top-level browsing context, with all the entries that are current entries in their respective session histories removed except for the current entry of the joint session history.

The current entry of the joint session history is the entry that most recently became a current entry in its session history.

Entries in the joint session history are ordered chronologically by the time they were added to their respective session histories. (Since all these browsing contexts by definition share an event loop, there is always a well-defined sequential order in which their session histories had their entries added.) Each entry has an index; the earliest entry has index 0, and the subsequent entries are numbered with consecutively increasing integers (1, 2, 3, etc).

Consider a game where the user can navigate along a line, such that the user is always at some coordinate, and such that the user can bookmark the page corresponding to a particular coordinate, to return to it later.

A static page implementing the x=5 position in such a game could look like the following:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<!-- this is http://example.com/line?x=5 -->
<title>Line Game - 5</title>
<p>You are at coordinate 5 on the line.</p>
<p>
 <a href="?x=6">Advance to 6</a> or
 <a href="?x=4">retreat to 4</a>?
</p>

The problem with such a system is that each time the user clicks, the whole page has to be reloaded. Here instead is another way of doing it, using script:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<!-- this starts off as http://example.com/line?x=5 -->
<title>Line Game - 5</title>
<p>You are at coordinate <span id="coord">5</span> on the line.</p>
<p>
 <a href="?x=6" onclick="go(1); return false;">Advance to 6</a> or
 <a href="?x=4" onclick="go(-1); return false;">retreat to 4</a>?
</p>
<script>
 var currentPage = 5; // prefilled by server
 function go(d) {
   setupPage(currentPage + d);
   history.pushState(currentPage, document.title, '?x=' + currentPage);
 }
 onpopstate = function(event) {
   setupPage(event.state);
 }
 function setupPage(page) {
   currentPage = page;
   document.title = 'Line Game - ' + currentPage;
   document.getElementById('coord').textContent = currentPage;
   document.links[0].href = '?x=' + (currentPage+1);
   document.links[0].textContent = 'Advance to ' + (currentPage+1);
   document.links[1].href = '?x=' + (currentPage-1);
   document.links[1].textContent = 'retreat to ' + (currentPage-1);
 }
</script>

In systems without script, this still works like the previous example. However, users that do have script support can now navigate much faster, since there is no network access for the same experience. Furthermore, contrary to the experience the user would have with just a naïve script-based approach, bookmarking and navigating the session history still work.

In the example above, the data argument to the pushState() method is the same information as would be sent to the server, but in a more convenient form, so that the script doesn't have to parse the URL each time the user navigates.

Applications might not use the same title for a session history entry as the value of the document's title element at that time. For example, here is a simple page that shows a block in the title element. Clearly, when navigating backwards to a previous state the user does not go back in time, and therefore it would be inappropriate to put the time in the session history title.

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<TITLE>Line</TITLE>
<SCRIPT>
 setInterval(function () { document.title = 'Line - ' + new Date(); }, 1000);
 var i = 1;
 function inc() {
   set(i+1);
   history.pushState(i, 'Line - ' + i);
 }
 function set(newI) {
   i = newI;
   document.forms.F.I.value = newI;
 }
</SCRIPT>
<BODY ONPOPSTATE="set(event.state)">
<FORM NAME=F>
State: <OUTPUT NAME=I>1</OUTPUT> <INPUT VALUE="Increment" TYPE=BUTTON ONCLICK="inc()">
</FORM>

5.5.3 The Location interface

Each Document object in a browsing context's session history is associated with a unique instance of a Location object.

document . location [ = value ]
window . location [ = value ]

Returns a Location object with the current page's location.

Can be set, to navigate to another page.

Location objects provide a representation of their document's address, and allow the current entry of the browsing context's session history to be changed, by adding or replacing entries in the history object.

interface Location {
  stringifier attribute DOMString href;
  void assign(DOMString url);
  void replace(DOMString url);
  void reload();

  // URL decomposition IDL attributes 
           attribute DOMString protocol;
           attribute DOMString host;
           attribute DOMString hostname;
           attribute DOMString port;
           attribute DOMString pathname;
           attribute DOMString search;
           attribute DOMString hash;
};
location . href [ = value ]

Returns the current page's location.

Can be set, to navigate to another page.

location . assign(url)

Navigates to the given page.

location . replace(url)

Removes the current page from the session history and navigates to the given page.

location . reload()

Reloads the current page.

The Location interface also has the complement of URL decomposition IDL attributes, protocol, host, port, hostname, pathname, search, and hash.

5.6 Browsing the Web

5.6.1 History traversal

The popstate event is fired in certain cases when navigating to a session history entry.

[Constructor(DOMString type, optional PopStateEventInit eventInitDict)]
interface PopStateEvent : Event {
  readonly attribute any state;
};

dictionary PopStateEventInit : EventInit {
  any state;
};
event . state

Returns a copy of the information that was provided to pushState() or replaceState().


The hashchange event is fired when navigating to a session history entry whose URL differs from that of the previous one only in the fragment identifier.

[Constructor(DOMString type, optional HashChangeEventInit eventInitDict)]
interface HashChangeEvent : Event {
  readonly attribute DOMString oldURL;
  readonly attribute DOMString newURL;
};

dictionary HashChangeEventInit : EventInit {
  DOMString oldURL;
  DOMString newURL;
};
event . oldURL

Returns the URL of the session history entry that was previously current.

event . newURL

Returns the URL of the session history entry that is now current.


The pageshow event is fired when traversing to a session history entry. The pagehide event is fired when traversing from a session history entry. The specification uses the page showing flag to ensure that scripts receive these events in a consistent manner (e.g. that they never receive two pagehide events in a row without an intervening pageshow, or vice versa).

[Constructor(DOMString type, optional PageTransitionEventInit eventInitDict)]
interface PageTransitionEvent : Event {
  readonly attribute boolean persisted;
};

dictionary PageTransitionEventInit : EventInit {
  boolean persisted;
};
event . persisted

Returns false if the page is newly being loaded (and the load event will fire). Otherwise, returns true.

5.6.2 Unloading documents

interface BeforeUnloadEvent : Event {
           attribute DOMString returnValue;
};
event . returnValue [ = value ]

Returns the current return value of the event (the message to show the user).

Can be set, to update the message.

There are no BeforeUnloadEvent-specific initialization methods.