JavaScript

The window.history object allows JavaScript to interact with the browser’s session history — i.e., the pages the user has visited in the current tab.

With this, you can:

• Navigate back and forth through history
• Move to a specific page in history
• Get the number of pages in the session

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📌 What is window.history?

The history object is part of the Browser Object Model (BOM) and is accessible via window.history.

You can use it to:

• Move backward/forward
• Check how many pages are in the history
• Manipulate the history stack (advanced)

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🔹 Common history Methods

Method	Description
history.back()	Go back one page (like browser back button)
history.forward()	Go forward one page (like browser forward button)
history.go(n)	Move n steps forward or backward
history.length	Number of URLs in history stack

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🔸 Examples

✅ Go Back One Page

history.back(); // Equivalent to clicking the browser back button

✅ Go Forward One Page

history.forward(); // Like clicking the browser forward button

✅ Go to a Specific Page

history.go(-2); // Go back 2 pages
history.go(1);  // Go forward 1 page

✅ Get Total History Length

console.log("History length:", history.length);

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📍 Use Case: Buttons for Navigation

<button onclick="history.back()">⬅ Go Back</button>
<button onclick="history.forward()">➡ Go Forward</button>
<button onclick="history.go(-3)">⏪ Back 3 Pages</button>

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⚠️ Note

• You can’t see the exact URLs in the user’s history due to security and privacy.
• history.length gives you the number of entries, not specific URLs.

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🌐 Advanced: Push and Replace History (with history.pushState())

For single-page applications (SPAs), you can use:

• history.pushState(state, title, url) – Push a new entry
• history.replaceState(state, title, url) – Replace current entry

Example:

history.pushState({}, '', '/new-page');

This changes the URL without reloading the page.

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✅ Summary

Task	Code Example
Go back 1 page	history.back()
Go forward 1 page	history.forward()
Go back/forward N	history.go(n)
Get history length	history.length

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