location

The Location interface represents the location (URL) of the object it is linked to. Changes done on it are reflected on the object it relates to. Both the Document and Window interface have such a linked Location, accessible via Document.location and Window.location respectively.

Properties

The Location interface doesn't inherit any property, but implements those from URLUtils.

Location.href

Is a DOMString containing the entire URL. If changed, the associated document navigates to the new page. It can be set from a different origin than the associated document.

Location.protocol

Is a DOMString containing the protocol scheme of the URL, including the final ':'.

Location.host

Is a DOMString containing the host, that is the hostname, a ':', and the port of the URL.

Location.hostname

Is a DOMString containing the domain of the URL.

Location.port

Is a DOMString containing the port number of the URL.

Location.pathname

Is a DOMString containing an initial '/' followed by the path of the URL.

Location.search

Is a DOMString containing a '?' followed by the parameters of the URL. Also known as "querystring".

Location.hash

Is a DOMString containing a '#' followed by the fragment identifier of the URL.

Location.username

Is a DOMString containing the username specified before the domain name.

Location.password

Is a DOMString containing the password specified before the domain name.

Location.origin Read only

Returns a DOMString containing the canonical form of the origin of the specific location.

Methods

The Location interface doesn't inherit any method, but implements those from URLUtils.

Location.assign()

Loads the resource at the URL provided in parameter.

Location.reload()

Reloads the resource from the current URL. Its optional unique parameter is a Boolean, which, when it is true, causes the page to always be reloaded from the server. If it is false or not specified, the browser may reload the page from its cache.

Location.replace()

Replaces the current resource with the one at the provided URL. The difference from the assign() method is that after using replace() the current page will not be saved in session History, meaning the user won't be able to use the back button to navigate to it.

Location.toString()

Returns a DOMString containing the whole URL. It is a synonym for URLUtils.href, though it can't be used to modify the value.

Examples

// Create anchor element and use href property for the purpose of this example
// A more correct alternative is to browse to the URL and use document.location or window.location
var url = document.createElement('a');
url.href = 'https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=URL#search-results-close-container';
console.log(url.href);      // https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=URL#search-results-close-container
console.log(url.protocol);  // https:
console.log(url.host);      // developer.mozilla.org
console.log(url.hostname);  // developer.mozilla.org
console.log(url.port);      // (blank - https assumes port 443)
console.log(url.pathname);  // /en-US/search
console.log(url.search);    // ?q=URL
console.log(url.hash);      // #search-results-close-container
console.log(url.origin);    // https://developer.mozilla.org

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of 'Location' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change from HTML5.
HTML5 The definition of 'Location' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

See also

• Two methods creating such an object: Window.location and Document.location.
• URL related interfaces: URL, URLSearchParams and HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils