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HashChangeEvent

The hashchange event is fired when the fragment identifier of the URL has changed (the part of the URL that follows the # symbol, including the # symbol).

General info

Specification
HTML5
Interface
HashChangeEvent
Bubbles
Yes
Cancelable
No
Target
defaultView
Default Action
None

Properties

Property Type Description
target Read only EventTarget The browsing context (<code>window</code>).
type Read only DOMString The type of event.
bubbles Read only Boolean Whether the event normally bubbles or not
cancelable Read only Boolean Whether the event is cancellable or not?
oldURL Read only string The previous URL from which the window was navigated.
newURL Read only string

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Edge Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support 5.0 (Yes) 3.6 (1.9.2)
Support for the oldURL/newURL attributes added in Firefox 6. 		8.0
oldURL/newURL attributes are not supported.		 10.6 5.0
Feature Android Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 2.2 (Yes) 1.0 (1.9.2) 9.0 11.0 5.0


There are several fallback scripts listed on this page. Basically those scripts check the location.hash at a regular interval. Here is a version that allows only one handler to be bound to the <code>window.onhashchange</code> property:

(function(window) {

  // exit if the browser implements that event
  if ( "onhashchange" in window.document.body ) { return; }

  var location = window.location,
    oldURL = location.href,
    oldHash = location.hash;

  // check the location hash on a 100ms interval
  setInterval(function() {
    var newURL = location.href,
      newHash = location.hash;

    // if the hash has changed and a handler has been bound...
    if ( newHash != oldHash && typeof window.onhashchange === "function" ) {
      // execute the handler
      window.onhashchange({
        type: "hashchange",
        oldURL: oldURL,
        newURL: newURL
      });

      oldURL = newURL;
      oldHash = newHash;
    }
  }, 100);

})(window);

Syntax

window.onhashchange = funcRef;

or

<body onhashchange="funcRef();">

or

window.addEventListener("hashchange", funcRef, false);

Parameters

funcRef
A reference to a function.

Example

if ("onhashchange" in window) {
    alert("The browser supports the hashchange event!");
}

function locationHashChanged() {
    if (location.hash === "#somecoolfeature") {
        somecoolfeature();
    }
}

window.onhashchange = locationHashChanged;

The hashchange event

The dispatched hashchange event has the following fields:

Field Type Description
newURL DOMString The new URL to which the window is navigating.
oldURL DOMString The previous URL from which the window was navigated.

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HashChangeEvent