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window.localStorage

The localStorage property allows you to access a local Storage object. localStorage is similar to sessionStorage. The only difference is that, while data stored in localStorage has no expiration time, data stored in sessionStorage gets cleared when the browsing session ends—that is, when the browser is closed.

It should be noted that data stored in either localStorage or sessionStorage is specific to the protocol of the page.

Syntax

myStorage = localStorage;

Value

A Storage object.

Example

The following snippet accesses the current domain's local Storage object and adds a data item to it using Storage.setItem().

localStorage.setItem('myCat', 'Tom');

Note: Please refer to the Using the Web Storage API article for a full example.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Web Storage (Second edition)
The definition of 'localStorage' in that specification.
Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
localStorage 4 3.5 8 10.50 4
sessionStorage 5 2 8 10.50 4
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 2.1 ? 8 11 iOS 3.2

All browsers have varying capacity levels for both localStorage and sessionStorage. Here is a detailed rundown of all the storage capacities for various browsers.

Note: Starting with iOS 5.1, Safari Mobile stores localStorage data in the cache folder, which is subject to occasional clean up, at the behest of the OS, typically if space is short. Safari Mobile's Private Browsing mode also prevents writing to localStorage entirely.

See also

© 2005–2017 Mozilla Developer Network and individual contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/window/localStorage