It’s the BOM! Browser Objects - JavaScript by Example - page 319

10.1.6 The history Object

The history object is a property of the window object. It keeps track of the pages (in a
stack) that the user has visited. The history object is most commonly used in JavaScript
to move back or forward on a page, similar to the back button and forward button sup-
ported by your browser. The history object can reference only those pages that have been
visited; that is, those pages on its stack. It has a length property and three methods called
go() , back() , and forward() . See Tables 10.15 and 10.16.

Table 10.15 Properties of the history Object

Property What It Describes in the URL

current The current document URL.

length The number of entries in the history object.

next The URL of the next document in the

history object.

previous The URL of the previous document in the

history object.

search The query string.

Table 10.16 Methods of the history Object

Method What It Does

back() Goes to the previous URL entry in the history list; like the browser's back

button.

forward() Goes to the next URL entry in the history list; like the browser's forward

button.

go() The browser will go forward or back (if the value is negative) the

number of specified pages in the history object.

EXAMPLE

history.go(-3) // Go back three pages

history.go(2) // Go forward three pages

back() // Same as history.go(-1)

forward() // Same as history.go(1)