Difference between window.history.back & parent.history.back

Question

I was working on a website, where I need to go back to the page which I visited. I was using parent.history.back. And one of my friend suggested rather use window.history.back instead of parent.history.back. I'm still confused the difference. I hope I can get the exact difference between them.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

window refers to the current frame, while parent refers the parent of the current frame.

So, use window in normal context. Use parent when dealing with iframes

If you don't have any <iframe> then go with window.history.back()

Answer 2

window.history.go has the parameter can either be a number which goes to the URL within the specific position (-1 goes back one page, 1 goes forward one page), or a string. The string must be a partial or full URL, and the function will go to the first URL that matches the string.

For example:

window.history.go(-2) -  go back two pages:
window.history.go(1)  - go forward one page

parent.history.back() acts like a simple back button. The result is equal as if you clicked on the back browser button. There is have no parameter to be passed. it never forward like window.history