How to Get Previous URL in JavaScript

JavaScript allows you to create dynamic websites and applications easily. Sometimes you may need to get previous page in JavaScript. It is useful if you want to navigate back to the previous URL. In this article, we will learn how to get previous URL in JavaScript.

How to Get Previous URL in JavaScript

In most cases, when a user visits a web page, the past page’s URL is stored in document.referrer object.

document.referrer

In most cases, if the user reached the current page by clicking a link, this contains the URL of previous page. It does not work if the user has directly typed the current page’s URL in address bar of web browser or reached the page via form submission.

You can also use history.back() to go back to previous page.

history.back(); //Go to the previous page
history.forward(); //Go to the next page in the stack
history.go(index); //Where index could be 1, -1, 6, etc.
OR
window.history.back(); //Go to the previous page
window.history.forward(); //Go to the next page in the stack
window.history.go(index); //Where index could be 1, -1, 6, etc.

Alternatively, you can also use other techniques such as storing previous page’s value in cookie, URL parameter or server side.

In this short article, we have learnt how to get previous URL in JavaScript. This is useful for navigation on websites and web applications.

Also read:

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Sreeram Sreenivasan

Sreeram has more than 10 years of experience in web development, Python, Linux, SQL and database programming.