JavaScript - on location changed event / on url changed event

window location detect change

In this short article, we would like to show how in  JavaScript detect if page URL ( location  object) was changed.

In JavaScript there is no locationchange event, but there are some tricks how to do it.

Quick solution:

Better problem description

With location changed monitoring related are three cases:

  • when URL is changed in the  browser address bar by the user, the whole page is reloaded and there are executed two operations:  unload  and load page - it is just opening a new page - we can use onload event to do some stuff (check this article ),
  • when location  is changed by History API ( pushState ,  replaceState , popState ) in the source code, the page is not reloaded. In this case, API doesn't provide any  locationchange event - it is necessary to trigger some events manually after the operation, e.g. history.pushState(...); callEventLogic(); // event on location change // ... history.popState(...); callEventLogic(); // event on location change // etc.
  • when the  hash  is changed in the  URL  ( location.hash ), the page is not reloaded. API provides some event to notify that change: window.addEventListener('hashchange', function(){ console.log('onhashchange event occurred!'); }) Note: hashchange event is triggered in both chases: - on change from source code, - on change in the  browser address bar by the user.
Summary: it is necessary to add own locationchange event support what is mentioned in second point in above list what was presented in Quick solution  too.

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Window. Location Changed Event

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Occurs when the window's location changes.

A window's location changes when:

A user moves a window by dragging it with the window's title bar.

A window is moved after DragMove is called.

Either the Left or Top property is set programmatically.

The Move menu item of a window's System menu is chosen.

The WindowState property is changed.

  • RestoreBounds

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How to detect location hash changes in Javascript

Introduction.

To detect the browser location hash changes in Javascript, there’s a web API event called hashchange . Which we can rely on to detect the change in the location hash.

How to use it?

There are two options to listen to the hashchange event:.

  • Attach the event ( hashchange ) to the addEventListener function, through any of the supported interfaces
  • Call the event ( onhashchange ) on any of the supported interfaces.

Supported Interfaces:

  • HTMLBodyElement
  • HTMLFrameSetElement
  • SVGSVGElement

1- Using addEventListener

To detect the hash change using the addEventListener method, we’re going to attach the event to it through the Window interface. As shown in the following example:

To be able to test it, we need to add a button that will update the browser location value once the user clicked on it, as shown below:

Then once the browser location value is updated, the hashchange event handler will be executed, and we should be able to see the alert message.

How to detect location hash changes in Javascript

Putting it together:

2- calling the event onhashchange.

The 2nd option can be done, by calling the event onhashchange directly on any of the supported interfaces .

For example:

As shown above in the example, we’ve attached the onhashchange directly to the Window interface, and assigned it a new function implementation, which will show an alert once the browser location hash changed.

Running the above code in the browser would results in the following:

How to detect location hash changes in Javascript

Full source code:

That’s it for How to detect location hash changes in Javascript.

Photo from Unslpash .

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Window: location property

The Window.location read-only property returns a Location object with information about the current location of the document.

Though Window.location is a read-only Location object, you can also assign a string to it. This means that you can work with location as if it were a string in most cases: location = 'http://www.example.com' is a synonym of location.href = 'http://www.example.com' .

See Location for all available properties.

A Location object.

Basic Example

Example 1: navigate to a new page.

Whenever a new value is assigned to the location object, a document will be loaded using the URL as if location.assign() had been called with the modified URL.

Note that navigation-related sandbox flags may result in an exception being thrown and the navigation failing.

Example 2: Reloading the current page

Consider the following example, which will reload the page by using the replace() method to insert the value of location.pathname into the hash:

Example 4: Display the properties of the current URL in an alert dialog

Example 5: send a string of data to the server by modifying the search property.

The current URL with "?Some%20data" appended is sent to the server (if no action is taken by the server, the current document is reloaded with the modified search string).

Example 6: Using bookmarks without changing the hash property

…the same thing but with an animated page scroll:

Specifications

Browser compatibility.

BCD tables only load in the browser with JavaScript enabled. Enable JavaScript to view data.

  • The interface of the returned value, Location
  • A similar information, but attached to the document, Document.location
  • Manipulating the browser history

window location detect change

Windows location service and privacy

Microsoft operates a location service that helps determine the precise geographic location of your Windows device. The precise location of your device allows apps to give you directions, show shops and restaurants that are near you, and more.

Many apps and services request location information from your device, and the Windows location service gives you control over which apps are allowed to access your precise location.

How the location settings work

Location services is a device-wide setting that can be controlled by the device administrator. When turned on, it enables certain Windows features—such as auto-setting the time zone or Find my device—to function properly. When this location setting is enabled, the Microsoft location service will use a combination of global positioning service (GPS), nearby wireless access points, cell towers, and your IP address (or default location) to determine your device’s location. Depending on the capabilities of your device, your device’s location can be determined with varying degrees of accuracy and may in some cases be determined precisely.

If you have turned on Location services , your device sends location information (including wireless access point information, cellular tower information, and precise GPS location if available) to Microsoft after removing any data identifying the person or device before leaving the device. This de-identified copy of location information is used to improve Microsoft location services and, in some instances, shared with our location service provider partners, currently HERE  and Skyhook , to improve the location services of the provider.

Additionally, with this setting turned on, each user on the device can allow apps to use their device’s location and location history to deliver location-aware services as precisely as their device supports. If you grant a specific app access to your device’s location on the settings page, that app will have access to precise location information. Otherwise the location information provided to the app has lower accuracy. When your location is used by a location-aware app or Windows service or feature, your location information and recent location history are stored on your device.

If an app or feature accesses the device's location and you are signed in with your Microsoft account, your last-known location information is also saved to the cloud, where it is available across your devices to other apps or services that use your Microsoft account and for which you've granted permission. If you are signed in with your Microsoft account and your device cannot reliably determine your current location on its own (such as when you are in a building or basement), apps or services can use your last-known location from your location history that is stored in the cloud if it is available. Data about a Windows device's recent location history is also stored on the device even if no Microsoft account is in use, and certain apps and Windows features can access this location history.

There are some exceptions to how your device’s location can be determined that are not directly managed by the location settings.

Desktop apps are a specific type of app that won’t ask for separate permission to discover your device location information and won’t appear in the list that allows you to choose apps that can use your location. What are desktop apps? They’re usually downloaded from the internet or installed with some type of media (such as a CD, DVD, or USB storage device). They’re launched using an .EXE or .DLL file, and they typically run on your device, unlike web-based apps (which run in the cloud).

Even when you’ve turned off Location services in Windows, some apps and services could use other technologies (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular modem, etc.) to determine your device’s location with varying degrees of accuracy. Microsoft requires third-party software developers that develop apps for our Microsoft Store or develop apps using Microsoft tools to respect the Windows location settings unless you’ve provided any legally required consent to have the third-party developer determine your location. However, to further reduce the risk that an app or service can determine your location when the Windows device location setting is off, you should only install apps and services from trusted sources. For more comprehensive protection of your location, you could consider disabling radio-based components of your device such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular modem, and GPS components, which might be used by an app to determine your precise location. However, doing so will also impair other experiences such as calling (including emergency calling), messaging, internet connectivity, and connecting to peripheral devices like your headphones. Please read the privacy policies of the apps and services you’ve installed to learn more about how they use your device’s location.

To facilitate getting help in an emergency, whenever you make an emergency call, Windows will attempt to determine and share your precise location, regardless of your location settings. In addition, your mobile operator will have access to your device’s location if your device has a SIM card or is otherwise using a cellular service.

Manage location settings

Location service.

Go to Start   > Settings > Privacy & security  > Location .

Do one of the following:

If you're an administrator on the device, you can use the Location services setting to control whether the location service can be used on this device. If you're not an admin on this device, you will not see this setting.

To control location for just your user account, switch the Let apps access your location setting On or Off . If "Location services is off" appears on the settings page, you won't be able to turn on the Let apps access your location setting for an individual user account.

Location history

Some Windows apps and services that use location info also use your location history. When the location setting is on, locations looked up by apps or services will be stored on the device for a limited time (24 hours), then deleted. Apps that have access to this info will be labeled Uses location history on the Location settings page.

To clear location history, either restart your device, or go to Start   > Settings > Privacy & security  > Location  and under Location history , select Clear . Clearing the location history only clears the history on the device. Apps that accessed the history before it was cleared may have stored it elsewhere. Refer to your apps' privacy policies for more info.

To clear location history that's been stored in the cloud and is associated with your Microsoft account, go to account.microsoft.com, and make sure you're signed in to your account. Select Clear location activity , and then select Clear .

Default location

You can set a default location for your device that Windows, apps, and services can use when a more exact location can’t be detected using GPS or other methods.

To change the default location for your device, which Windows, apps, and services can use when a more exact location can't be detected

Under Default location , select Set default .

The Windows Maps app will open. Follow the instructions to set or change your default location.

Allow location override

Instead of using your device’s GPS or Wi-Fi signals for location, you can allow location override, which will let apps use the location of a remote device. For example, when using Remote Desktop, you can find local printers around your client device instead of near the server that’s hosting the virtual machine you’ve connected to.

For the Allow location override setting to work, the Location services setting for both the local and remote devices needs to be turned on. Additionally, the app being used to manage the remote connection should have been allowed access to use location.

To allow apps on this device to use the location of another device

On the device making the connection:

Go to  Start   > Settings > Privacy & security  > Location .

Make sure the  Location services setting has been turned On .

Make sure the app used for remote connections has been granted access to your location.

On the device being connected to:

Turn the  Allow location override setting On .

Location for websites in Microsoft Edge

When location is turned on for Microsoft Edge, you still have control over which websites can access your device location. Microsoft Edge will ask for your permission the first time you visit a website that requests your location information. You can turn off location permission for a website in Microsoft Edge settings. Learn more about location and privacy in Microsoft Edge

How we build the location services database

If Location services in turned on and your device has GPS capability, Microsoft will record the location of mobile cell towers and Wi-Fi access points to help us provide location services,. Our database might include the MAC addresses of your wireless router or other neighboring Wi-Fi network devices. We don’t associate MAC addresses with you personally or with the devices connected to your network.

To prevent Microsoft from using the MAC addresses of your Wi-Fi access points in our location services database, go to Opt out of location services .

How we help keep you informed: the location icon

When one or more apps are currently using your device location through the Windows location service, you’ll see the location icon in the notification area of your taskbar. Hover over the icon to see the name of the app or apps using location.

You can also see which apps are currently using your precise location or have recently accessed your precise location on your Windows device by going to Start   > Settings > Privacy & security  > Location and under Let apps access your location you'll see the date and time when location was last used. 

The device location setting enables certain Windows features such as auto-setting the time zone or Find my device to function properly. When the device location setting is enabled, the Microsoft location service will use a combination of global positioning service (GPS), nearby wireless access points, cell towers, and your IP address to determine your device’s location. Depending on the capabilities of your device, your device’s location can be determined with varying degrees of accuracy and may in some cases be determined precisely.

If you have enabled the device location setting, your device sends de-identified location information (including wireless access point information, cellular tower information, and precise GPS location if available) to Microsoft after removing any data identifying the person or device before leaving the device. This de-identified copy of location information is used to improve Microsoft location services and, in some instances, shared with our location service provider partners, currently HERE  and Skyhook , to improve the location services of the provider.

Additionally, with this setting turned on each user on the device can allow apps to use their device’s location and location history to deliver location-aware services as precisely as their device supports. If you grant a specific app access to your device’s location on the settings page, that app will have access to precise location information. Otherwise the location information provided to the app has lower accuracy. When your location is used by a location-aware app or Windows service or feature, your location information and recent location history are stored on your device.

When an app or feature accesses the device's location and if you are signed in with your Microsoft account, your last known location information is also saved to the cloud, where it is available across your devices to other apps or services that use your Microsoft account and for which you've granted permission. If you are signed in with your Microsoft account and your device cannot reliably determine your current location on its own (such as when you are in a building or basement), apps or services can use your last known location from your location history that is stored in the cloud if it is available.

Even when you’ve turned off the device location setting, some third-party apps and services could use other technologies (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular modem, etc.) to determine your device’s location with varying degrees of accuracy. Microsoft requires third-party software developers that develop apps for our Microsoft Store or develop apps using Microsoft tools to respect the Windows location settings unless you’ve provided any legally required consent to have the third-party developer determine your location. However, to further reduce the risk that an app or service can determine your location when the Windows device location setting is off, you should only install apps and services from trusted sources. For more comprehensive protection of your location, you could consider disabling radio-based components of your device such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular modem, and GPS components, which might be used by an app to determine your precise location. However, doing so will also impair other experiences such as calling (including emergency calling), messaging, internet connectivity, and connecting to peripheral devices like your headphones. Please read the privacy policies of the apps and services you’ve installed to learn more about how they use your device’s location.

Some Windows apps and services that use location info also use your location history. When the location setting is on, locations looked up by apps or services will be stored on the device for a limited time (24 hours in Windows 10), then deleted. Apps that have access to this info will be labeled Uses location history on the Location settings page.

You can set a default location for your device that Windows, apps, and services can then use when a more exact location can’t be detected using GPS or other methods.

Some apps use geofencing, which can turn on or off particular services or show you information that might be useful when you’re in an area defined (or “fenced”) by the app. An app can only use geofencing if location has been turned on for that app. If any of your Windows apps are using geofencing, you’ll see One or more of your apps are currently using geofencing on the Location settings page.

Cortana works best when she has access to your device location and location history, which she uses to help you—for example, by giving you traffic alerts before you need to leave or reminders based on location like “You’re near the grocery store, where you wanted to buy milk.” Cortana collects your location periodically even if you’re not interacting with her, like when you connect to Wi-Fi or disconnect from Bluetooth. When Cortana is turned on, the Search app also has access to your device location information and will automatically send it to Bing when Cortana suggests web search terms and results for Bing to use as described in the Privacy Statement. If you don’t want Cortana to have access to your device location, follow these steps:

Go to Start  > Settings > Cortana .

Select Permissions or Permissions & History .

Select Manage the information Cortana can access from this device.

Turn the Location setting to Off .

Microsoft Edge

When location is turned on for Microsoft Edge, you still have control over which websites can access your device location. Microsoft Edge will ask for your permission the first time you visit a website that requests your location information. You can turn off location permission for a website in Microsoft Edge settings.

There are two versions of Microsoft Edge that can be installed on Windows 10. The new Microsoft Edge is downloadable and considered a desktop app. Follow these steps to turn on location for the new Microsoft Edge:

Go to Start   > Settings > Privacy  > Location .

Turn on Allow access to location on this device .

Turn on Allow apps to access your location .

Turn on Allow desktop apps to access your location if present.

The legacy version of Microsoft Edge is the HTML-based browser that was released with Windows 10 in July 2015.  Follow these steps to turn on location for the legacy version of Microsoft Edge:

Under Choose which apps can access your precise location , switch the Microsoft Edge setting to On .

Learn more about location and privacy in the new Microsoft Edge

When Location services is turned on, to help us provide location services, Microsoft records the precise location of mobile cell towers and Wi-Fi access points if your device has GPS capability. Our database might include the MAC addresses of your wireless router or other neighboring Wi-Fi network devices. We don’t associate MAC addresses with you personally or with the devices connected to your network.

When one or more apps are currently using your device location through the Windows location service, you’ll see the location icon in the notification area of your taskbar (on Windows 10 PCs) or in the status bar at the top of your screen (on Windows 10 Mobile devices). The icon won’t be shown for geofencing.

To show or hide the location icon:

On Windows 10 PCs:

Go to Start  > Settings > Personalization  > Taskbar .

Under Notification area , select Select which icons show on the taskbar .

Turn the Location Notification setting On or Off .

On Windows 10 Mobile:

Go to Settings .

Select Privacy > Location .

Turn Show location icon on or off.

If you’re using a device assigned to you by your workplace, or if you’re using a personal device at your workplace, you might not be able to change the location settings. If that’s the case, Some settings are managed by your organization will appear at the top of the Location settings page.

How to control location settings

Windows location settings give you control over whether Windows features can access your device’s location and which Windows apps can use your device’s location and location history information. To check your location settings, go to Start    >    Settings  > Privacy  > Location .

To clear location history, either restart your device, or go to Start    > Settings  > Privacy  > Location , and under Location history , select Clear . Clearing the location history only clears the history on the device. Apps that accessed the history before it was cleared may have stored it elsewhere. Refer to your apps’ privacy policies for more info.

To clear location history that’s been stored in the cloud and is associated with your Microsoft account, go to account.microsoft.com , and make sure you’re signed in to your account. Select Clear location activity , and then select Clear .

To turn the Windows location settings on or off:

On your PC:

Go to Start    > Settings > Privacy  > Location .

To control location for the whole device if you’re an administrator on the device, select Change , and then in the Location for this device message, switch the setting to On or Off .

To control location for just your user account, switch the Allow apps to access your location setting to On or Off . If Location for this device is off appears on the settings page, you won’t be able to turn on the Allow apps to access your location setting for an individual user account. (Note that in previous versions of Windows, this setting was called Location service .)

On Windows 10 PCs, you can add or remove the Location tile from the notification area at the far right of the taskbar. Here's how:

Go to Start    > Settings  > System   > Notifications & actions .

Under Quick actions , select Edit your quick actions .

Add, remove, or move the Location tile.

On your mobile device:

Go to Settings > Privacy > Location .

Select Location to turn it on or off.

To change whether an individual app can have access to your precise location:

Go to Start    > Settings  > Privacy  > Location .

Turn each app on or off where it appears under Choose which apps can access your precise location . On a device, each person can do the same for their own accounts. If Allow apps to access your location is turned Off for your user account, the on/off switches can’t be turned on until Allow apps to access your location is turned On .

To change the default location for your PC, which Windows, apps, and services can use when a more exact location can’t be detected:

The Windows Maps app will open. Follow the instructions to change your default location.

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How to Detect a URL Change With JavaScript

How to Detect a URL Change With JavaScript

JavaScript has no native event for listening for URL changes in the browser, so to do this, you can create an interval listener that compares the current URL value to the previous value every X seconds.

We call setInterval() with a callback and 60 to invoke the callback every 60 seconds. In the callback, we check if the current URL is the same as the last URL; if it is, we perform our desired action.

For example:

A URL change is detected right away when the page is first loaded:

A URL change will also be detected when history.pushState() is called from the Change URL button's click event listener.

Detect back button click

Apart from pushState() , this approach will also work when the back button is clicked, whether by the user or with a method like history.back() .

Detect forward button click

The same thing applies to a forward button click or history.forward() :

Use detect-url-change library

Alternatively, you can use the detect-url-change library to quickly change the browser URL.

The default export is an observer on which you can attach listeners to perform an action when the URL changes.

To use detect-url-change like in this example, you'll first need to install it into your project. You can do this with the following command:

You'll also need to use a bundling tool like Webpack, Rollup, Parcel , etc.

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JS Tutorial

Js versions, js functions, js html dom, js browser bom, js web apis, js vs jquery, js graphics, js examples, js references, javascript window location.

The window.location object can be used to get the current page address (URL) and to redirect the browser to a new page.

Window Location

The window.location object can be written without the window prefix.

Some examples:

  • window.location.href returns the href (URL) of the current page
  • window.location.hostname returns the domain name of the web host
  • window.location.pathname returns the path and filename of the current page
  • window.location.protocol returns the web protocol used (http: or https:)
  • window.location.assign() loads a new document

Window Location Href

The window.location.href property returns the URL of the current page.

Display the href (URL) of the current page:

Window Location Hostname

The window.location.hostname property returns the name of the internet host (of the current page).

Display the name of the host:

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Window Location Pathname

The window.location.pathname property returns the pathname of the current page.

Display the path name of the current URL:

Window Location Protocol

The window.location.protocol property returns the web protocol of the page.

Display the web protocol:

Window Location Port

The window.location.port property returns the number of the internet host port (of the current page).

Most browsers will not display default port numbers (80 for http and 443 for https)

Window Location Assign

The window.location.assign() method loads a new document.

Load a new document:

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# window.location Cheatsheet

Looking for a site's URL information, then the window.location object is for you! Use its properties to get information on the current page address or use its methods to do some page redirect or refresh 💫

https://www.samanthaming.com/tidbits/?filter=JS#2
  • Difference between host vs hostname
  • How to change URL properties
  • window.location vs location
  • window.location.toString
  • assign vs replace
  • replace vs assign vs href
  • Scratch your own itch 👍
  • Community Input

# window.location Properties

# difference between host vs hostname.

In my above example, you will notice that host and hostname returns the value. So why do these properties. Well, it has do with the port number. Let's take a look.

URL without Port

https://www.samanthaming.com

URL with Port

https://www.samanthaming.com:8080

So host will include the port number, whereas hostname will only return the host name.

# How to change URL properties

Not only can you call these location properties to retrieve the URL information. You can use it to set new properties and change the URL. Let's see what I mean.

Here's the complete list of properties that you can change:

The only property you can't set is window.location.origin . This property is read-only.

# Location Object

The window.location returns a Location object. Which gives you information about the current location of the page. But you can also access the Location object in several ways.

The reason we can do this is because these are global variables in our browser.

window location detect change

# window.location vs location

All 4 of these properties point at the same Location object. I personally prefer window.location and would actually avoid using location . Mainly because location reads more like a generic term and someone might accidentally name their variable that, which would override the global variable. Take for example:

I think that most developer is aware that window is a global variable. So you're less likely to cause confusion. To be honest, I had no idea location was a global variable until I wrote this post 😅. So my recommendation is to be more explicit and use window.location instead 👍

Here's my personal order of preference:

Of course, this is just my preference. You're the expert of your codebase, there is no best way, the best way is always the one that works best for you and your team 🤓

# window.location Methods

# window.location.tostring.

This method returns the USVString of the URL. It is a read-only version of Location.href

In other words, you can use it to get the href value from the

on this 😊. But I did find a performance test on the difference.

JSPerf: Location toString vs Location href

One thing I want to note about these speed tests is that it is browser specific. Different browser and versions will render different outcome. I'm using Chrome, so the href came out faster then the rest. So that's one I'll use. Also I think it reads more explicit then toString() . It is very obvious that href will provide the URL whereas toString seems like something it being converted to a string 😅

# assign vs replace

Both of these methods will help you redirect or navigate to another URL. The difference is assign will save your current page in history, so your user can use the "back" button to navigate to it. Whereas with replace method, it doesn't save it. Confused? No problem, I was too. Let's walk through an example.

Current Page

I just need to emphasize the "current page" in the definition. It is the page right before you call assign or replace .

# How to Do a Page Redirect

By now, you know we can change the properties of the window.location by assigning a value using = . Similarly, there are methods we can access to do some actions. So in regards to "how to redirect to another page", well there are 3 ways.

# replace vs assign vs href

All three does redirect, the difference has to do with browser history. href and assign are the same here. It will save your current page in history, whereas replace won't. So if you prefer creating an experience where the navigation can't press back to the originating page, then use replace 👍

So the question now is href vs assign . I guess this will come to personal preference. I like the assign better because it's a method so it feels like I'm performing some action. Also there's an added bonus of it being easier to test. I've been writing a lot of Jest tests, so by using a method, it makes it way easier to mock.

But for that that are rooting for href to do a page redirect. I found a performance test and running in my version of Chrome, it was faster. Again performance test ranges with browser and different versions, it may be faster now, but perhaps in future browsers, the places might be swapped.

JSPerf: href vs assign

# Scratch your own itch 👍

Okay, a bit of a tangent and give you a glimpse of how this cheatsheet came to be. I was googling how to redirect to another page and encountered the window.location object. Sometimes I feel a developer is a journalist or detective - there's a lot of digging and combing through multiple sources for you to gather all the information available. Honestly, I was overwhelmed with the materials out there, they all covered different pieces, but I just wanted a single source. I couldn't find much, so I thought, I'll cover this in a tidbit cheatsheet! Scratch your own itch I always say 👍

# Community Input

: This is awesome, I’ve used window.location.href in the past, but didn’t realise how simple it is to access sections of the URL!

If you want to see a live-action of what James is talking about, check out the table of content at the top of this article. Click on it and it will scroll down to the specific section of the page.

# Resources

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Console.table to display data, colorful console message, window.location cheatsheet, fresh tidbits.

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How to detect when the browser URL changes with vanilla JS

Yesterday, we looked at how to update the browser URL without refreshing the page using the history.pushState() method .

Today, let’s look how to detect when the URL changes and do things as a result.

The popstate event

If you use history.pushState() to update the URL, when the user clicks the forward or backward buttons, the URL will change but the UI will not.

You can use the popstate method to detect those URL changes and make UI changes as needed.

Yesterday, we learned that the first property passed into the history.pushState() method is state . You can access that property on the event object.

Moving forwards and backwards through History

You can also move forward and backward through the browser’s history with a few other methods in the History API.

The history.back() method goes back one page, and the history.forward() method goes forward one page.

You can jump forward or backwards more than one page using the history.go() method. Pass in the number of pages to jump. Use a positive number to go forward, and negative number to go backwards.

Browser compatibility

The popstate event, and the back() , forward() , and go() methods all work in all modern browsers, and back to IE 10.

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Windows 10 detecting the wrong time zone

When I go up to my cabin, Windows always changes my time zone to Pacific. I'm in Mountain Time, and I actually go east to get to the cabin. I don't know if it's the IP address, or the WiFi network, or what, but it happens every time. If I go into Time settings and disable automatically detect timezone, I can set it back to mountain time. But if I re-enable auto-detect, it switches right back to Pacific.

Is there any way I can teach Windows the correct time zone so that it auto-detects correctly?

  • 2 Do you have some sort of issue with manually setting the time zone? I mean you just need to click a few buttons and you're done... permanently... The auto detect feature is just there so that most users don't have to manually set the time zone, but there will always be users who need to do that. I personally prefer to always set it manually even if I can do it automatically, because automatic could always mess up my time zone when my IP address changes. –  Cestarian Feb 28, 2016 at 7:04
  • 2 I like to leave it at automatic because when I travel, it resets automatically. I was on the west coast the other week, and it changed automatically for me, just like my cell phone. This one location is just.... detected wrong. It's not a huge deal, but I like to fix small issues like this. –  Carrot Feb 28, 2016 at 7:09
  • Just disable the automatic time zone detection, then manually, set the time zone. –  Ramhound Feb 28, 2016 at 7:54
  • The thing that solved it for me was to enable location services in the settings (I reached them playing with the Maps app). It kinda makes sense, you don't allow the OS to find your location, so it won't. –  ptommasi Mar 28, 2022 at 16:43
  • If you dual-boot with Linux, have a look at this question: superuser.com/q/1174187/90668 –  Flimm Apr 14, 2022 at 9:23

2 Answers 2

The "Set Time Zone Automatically" feature in Windows 10 uses the location information from the Windows Location APIs, which have different levels of accuracy based on where the location information was obtained.

Per the documentation on MSDN , the accuracy is as follows:

GPS : within approximately 10 meters Wi-Fi : between approximately 30 meters and 500 meters Cell towers : between approximately 300 meters and 3,000 meters IP address : between approximately 1,000 meters and 5,000 meters

You are probably only getting accuracy by IP address, which you can read more about in this article .

While there's a solution for overriding your location in the Maps application ( as described here ), unfortunately it's functionality is currently limited to the Maps application itself. Currently, there is no mechanism to feed this location back into Windows such that it is used to detect your time zone. If such a feature is every created, I'll be sure to come back and updated this article accordingly.

Update: As of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (August 2016), you can now change your default location via the Maps application, and this location will indeed be used by the "Set Time Zone Automatically" feature. You may need to turn the feature off and back on again for it to pick up the location change, but it does indeed use it now.

Matt Johnson-Pint's user avatar

  • 1 Great answer! I think it must be the IP address info that is getting pulled to determine my location. It's strange though, I actually did already set my location with the Maps application. Maps now correctly picks up where I am, but the time zone info is still wrong. I tried disabling WiFi and getting a direct connection into the router. Time zone was still wrong. Looks like it must be the IP address. –  Carrot Feb 28, 2016 at 23:07
  • 1 So, it seems I was mistaken (I know - right?!) ;) I've updated the answer to reflect the current story. Probably for now the best idea is to disable the auto time zone feature when you only have IP location and your location is misidentified. –  Matt Johnson-Pint Mar 15, 2016 at 23:16
  • 1 On CenturyLink (Qwest/US West) I can be assigned from DHCP IP pools that put me alternately in Oregon, Idaho, Minnesota, Pennsylvania. Direct Detection means little when it's using IP address on an internet service who has combined all its regional netblocks to make up for increased demand on a reduced availability of IPV4 addresses. And this is from a static location. –  Fiasco Labs Mar 16, 2016 at 0:03
  • Very nice answer. –  Cestarian Mar 29, 2016 at 19:05
  • 1 Did not work for me. I changed the location in the maps application to my address and then went back to Date & Time settings and flipped the "Set time zone automatically" option, but it still sets the time zone to "(UTC + 12:00) Auckland, Wellington", which isn't even the correct country. The only solution I found was to turn off "Set time zone automatically" and then just manually put in the time zone I'm in. I'd already done that before I tried your answer, so I just did it again. –  dcp May 24, 2018 at 12:40

No, there simply isn't a way to do that, this auto-detection is based on your IP Address, you just need to manually set the time zone, it's as simple as that. At least you can set the time zone for network synch (I mean back in the day we always had to manually set the clock in computers, in case you don't remember that, there was no timezone sync)

If there is any way to do this it would be a lot of trouble (spoofing your external IP address through a VPN might do something. Also might not do something (depends on how the system is set up), but as I said, that's way too much trouble for a small issue like this)

Cestarian's user avatar

  • " there simply isn't a way to do that, this auto-detection is based on your IP Address" - This actually isn't entirely true. Windows uses a bunch of information on top of your ip address, but Windows might not know your pubic ip address if your connected to a router, which is the primary reason I say this is false. In most cases like your mobile phone, Windows will use the knowledge of access points, and determine your location based on that. –  Ramhound Mar 15, 2016 at 23:24
  • What "other information" though? (And the answer still applies; even if this bit wasn't a 100%) –  Cestarian Mar 16, 2016 at 4:50

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window location detect change

How to Change Location Settings on Windows 11 Systems

Windows 11 Systems

Location settings can be useful. However, hackers, websites, social media sites, etc., can use these settings to track you and gather information about you. If you are not comfortable with these settings, you can easily modify them and ensure that only limited data is exposed when you are online. This tutorial will show you how to change location settings on Windows 11 systems.

Change Location Settings Windows 11

If you wish to make changes to your current location settings, you can do this by accessing the Windows 11 settings app. Just follow the instructions below:

Related Story How to Work Together in Microsoft PowerPoint on Windows Computers

Step-1: Open the settings app using the shortcut keys Win + I .

Step-2: Select Privacy & Security from the left pane.

Settings Apps

Step-3: Scroll down and under the section of App Permissions , click on Location .

Change Location Settings Windows 11

Step-4: If you don’t want to give Location access to any app, turn the toggle switch next to Location services off.

Change Location Settings Windows 11

BONUS STEP: If you want some apps to access your Location, you can individually modify the location settings. Keep the toggle switch On for Location services and the Let apps access your Location .

Change Location Settings Windows 11

Clear History

You can even clear your location history. Just follow steps 1 – 3. Scroll down in location settings, and you will see a Clear button next to Location history . Click on it.

Change Location Settings Windows 11

I hope this helped. If you have any further questions about Windows 11, let us know in the comments below.

Deal of the Day

window location detect change

Further Reading

Windows 11

How to Quickly Clear Clutter on Windows 11 Using Command Prompt

Windows 11

How to Fix Blurry Screen on Windows 11 Computers

Peeping in Your Computer

How to Check if Someone Was Peeping into Your Windows 11 Computer

Windows 11 KB501588

How to Reset TCP/IP Stack on Windows 11 Computers

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IMAGES

  1. How to Change Location on Windows 10

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  2. How to set your Windows 10 location for apps, and why is it useful?

    window location detect change

  3. 3 Ways to Change Location Settings in Windows 8

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  4. How to turn the Windows location settings on or off

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  5. How to set and configure Location Services in Windows 11

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  6. Set or Change Default Location in Windows 10

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COMMENTS

  1. Event when window.location.href changes

    13 Answers Sorted by: 199 +50 I use this script in my extension "Grab Any Media" and work fine ( like youtube case ) var oldHref = document.location.href; window.onload = function() { var bodyList = document.querySelector("body") var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) { if (oldHref != document.location.href) {

  2. How to intercept window.location change

    2 Answers Sorted by: 26 You can use the beforeunload event to trigger your code to run prior to navigation... If you need something more specific (e.g., only navigations initiated in your code ), then I recommend that you factor out code changing window.location into a separate function, and add a hook for your custom logic. Share

  3. Window: hashchange event

    Window: hashchange event The hashchange event is fired when the fragment identifier of the URL has changed (the part of the URL beginning with and following the # symbol). Syntax Use the event name in methods like addEventListener (), or set an event handler property. js addEventListener("hashchange", (event) => {}); onhashchange = (event) => {};

  4. JavaScript

    In JavaScript there is no locationchange event, but there are some tricks how to do it. Quick solution: xxxxxxxxxx 1 // Put following code on the top of head element: 2 3 ; (function() { 4 var pushState = history.pushState; 5 var replaceState = history.replaceState; 6 7 history.pushState = function() { 8 pushState.apply(history, arguments); 9

  5. Window.LocationChanged Event (System.Windows)

    A window's location changes when: A user moves a window by dragging it with the window's title bar. A window is moved after DragMove is called. Either the Left or Top property is set programmatically. The Move menu item of a window's System menu is chosen. The WindowState property is changed. Applies to See also Left Top RestoreBounds Feedback

  6. How to detect location hash changes in Javascript

    <button onclick="return changeLocationHash();">Change location hash</button> <script> function changeLocationHash() { window.location = window.location + '#hash'; } </script> Then once the browser location value is updated, the hashchange event handler will be executed, and we should be able to see the alert message.

  7. Window: location property

    English (US) Window: location property The Window.location read-only property returns a Location object with information about the current location of the document. Though Window.location is a read-only Location object, you can also assign a string to it.

  8. Windows location service and privacy

    Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Location. Do one of the following: If you're an administrator on the device, you can use the Location services setting to control whether the location service can be used on this device. If you're not an admin on this device, you will not see this setting.

  9. How to Detect a URL Change With JavaScript

    A URL change is detected from a pushState () call in the button's click event listener. To use detect-url-change like in this example, you'll first need to install it into your project. You can do this with the following command: npm i detect-url-change # Yarn yarn add detect-url-change. You'll also need to use a bundling tool like Webpack ...

  10. JavaScript Window Location

    Result is: Page location is https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_window_location.asp Try it Yourself » Window Location Hostname The window.location.hostname property returns the name of the internet host (of the current page). Example Display the name of the host: document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML =

  11. How to set your Windows 10 location for apps, and why is it useful?

    To change your default location in Windows 10, you must first open the Settings app. A quick way to do this is to click or tap its button from the Start Menu. Inside the Settings app, go to the Privacy section. Open Privacy settings in Windows 10 On the left side of the window, click or tap Location.

  12. window.location Cheatsheet

    # window.location vs location. All 4 of these properties point at the same Location object. I personally prefer window.location and would actually avoid using location. Mainly because location reads more like a generic term and someone might accidentally name their variable that, which would override the global variable. Take for example:

  13. How to detect when the browser URL changes with vanilla JS

    You can use the popstate method to detect those URL changes and make UI changes as needed. window.addEventListener('popstate', function (event) { // The URL changed... }); Yesterday, we learned that the first property passed into the history.pushState () method is state. You can access that property on the event object.

  14. Where does Window 10 keep its geolocation data? Is it possible to

    Some of them detect their geolocation absolutely correctly, some not. The question: is it possible to replace the geolocation data detected by Windows 10 with the data got from some web site that correctly detect those data using cmd or powershell? ... To change the default location for your PC, which Windows, apps, and services can use when a ...

  15. Windows 10 detecting the wrong time zone

    The auto detect feature is just there so that most users don't have to manually set the time zone, but there will always be users who need to do that. ... The "Set Time Zone Automatically" feature in Windows 10 uses the location information from the Windows Location APIs, which have different levels of accuracy based on where the location ...

  16. How to change Location settings in Windows 11/10

    1] Navigate to the Settings area The first thing you should do is to launch the app. You can do this by pressing the Windows key + I on the keyboard, or take the longer route by clicking on the...

  17. How to set and configure Location Services in Windows 11

    In order to enable Location Services in Windows 11, first, click or tap the Start button on your desktop and then on the Settings app. Alternatively, you can press Win + I on your keyboard. TIP: For more on how to open the Settings app, read these 17 ways to open Settings in Windows 11.

  18. How to detect if URL has changed after hash in JavaScript

    21 Answers Sorted by: 247 Update 2024: Major browsers should now support the Navigation API, so it can be done like this: window.navigation.addEventListener("navigate", (event) => { console.log('location changed!'); })

  19. Is it possible to capture the window.location.replace event?

    4. window.location.replace acts like a redirection, so you can listen for the BeforeUnload event. The Location.replace () method replaces the current resource with the one at the provided URL. ( don't know why it can't replace the window.location in the snippet :P but it'll work outside it )

  20. How to Change Location Settings on Windows 11 Systems

    If you wish to make changes to your current location settings, you can do this by accessing the Windows 11 settings app. Just follow the instructions below: Step-1: Open the settings app using the ...

  21. How to listen for changes to window.location.search in 2019

    11 I would like to update window.location.search without reloading the document and then execute a function based on the updated values in window.location.search. When the user clicks a button, that button's onclick event fires the following function: window.history.pushState ( {action : 'myAction'}, document.title, '?action=myAction');