window.history.back() not working.

Question

I cant get this to work. I have been trying for ages. Please help me.

<script>
function goBack() {
    window.history.back()
}
</script>

<button onclick="goBack()">Go Back</button> 

Answer 1

Please have a look at this question: Inconsistency with window.history.back().

this

<button type="button" onclick="goBack()">Go Back</button> 

could be what you're looking for

As Kevin B suggests

The browser could be interpreting the button as a submit button and submitting the form, thus causing a page refresh. Adding type="button" will prevent that.

Answer 2

First of all, you should make sure that your script tag have the proper type set:

<script type="text/javascript">
...
</script>

Also, I would suggest using the "go" function of the history object instead since the compatibility is higher. To simplify things you can simply do this:

<button onclick="javascript:history.go(-1)">Go Back</button>

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

This can stop it appearing to work

<a href="#" onclick=DoSomething()>Stop it working</a>

That's because the href will effectively add a new page in the history, the present page again

Incidently if you call

event.preventDefault()

in DoSomething then # will never get added to the history and it will appear to work again