What does "javascript:;" do?

Question

I wanna know what javascript:; does in the following code:

<a href="javascript:;" id="notifications-handler">0</a>

I can't anything useful in Google so I wanted to ask you here.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 10 '13 at 18:41

3

As a URL? It doesn't do anything. It's a convenient way of making the target of a clickable widget on a web page not do anything at all.

If it had actual Javascript code between the javascript: and the ;, then it would do whatever that code said to do.

answered Dec 10 '13 at 18:41

Mark Reed

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Other similar tricks include: javascript://, javascript:void(0); – Diodeus - James MacFarlane Dec 10 '13 at 18:43

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 18:41

Assuming you mean <a href="javascript:;">xxx</a>, it's a way to make the link not do anything, but continue to behave like a link.

As you know, in links, the first bit can be a protocol, like http: or https: or ftp: or mailto:. javascript: is a pseudo-protocol that says "Treat the rest of this link as JavaScript code and run it."

In your example, the only code is ;, which is the statement terminator, and so the JavaScript code does nothing.

You can also use javascript: pseudo-protocol in bookmarks, which is how bookmarklets work.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 18:42

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It is an empty expression. This is often used by <a> tags to fill href attribute and do something else in onclick.

answered Dec 10 '13 at 18:42

Zaffy

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What does "javascript:;" do?

3 Answers3