Using javascript to detect browser type

Question

I'm trying to use this line to detect browser type: IE or Firefox.

alert(isBrowser("Microsoft"));

but I get absolutely nothing, the alert doesn't even pop up. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

What would be the best practice way to detect browser type?

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:01

10

I hope this helps:

http://www.quirksmode.org/js/detect.html

(it's a long script, so i don't want to post it here)

answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:01

lajuette

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score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:02

8

Try this:

alert(navigator.appName);

answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:02

Darin Dimitrov

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I like this answer's simplicity. Does anyone have objections to it, because though the other answers are more comprehensive (cover version number, etc.) all I need is the browser type. But any known problems here. By the way, I tried it on FF and it said Netscape! – Duber Mar 22 '10 at 07:19
6

I tried it on Chrome and it also says netscape :s – Toshinou Kyouko Jan 28 '14 at 10:14
4

Chrome, Firefox, and Safari return the name "Netscape". – Aaron Oommen Jun 11 '14 at 14:28
@user3716264, and IE11, Check it [here.](http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/prop_nav_appname.asp) – Alex Kulinkovich Oct 14 '14 at 09:25
1

Brave and Edge also return 'netscape'... – oldboy Mar 12 '17 at 22:02
This is a long story. Every browser returns Netscape, and every UserAgent is similar, not only appName, and only now Google think about renaming. It is better to follow the vendor name then the appName. – Богуслав Павлишинець Sep 11 '20 at 16:22

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:05

4

I think jQuery got it right when they support testing for features instead of just browser.

answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:05

Jonas Elfström

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I agree with the theory - and mostly it works in practice too. But occasionally you need to know the browser. For example how do you detect right-mouse-click in webkit (safari or chrome) even prototype.js has to resort to browser detection here – plodder Mar 30 '10 at 23:25

Alexey Marzan · Answer 4 · 2013-04-06T05:57:04.653

3

For MSIE detection you may use JavaScript:

   // This function returns Internet Explorer's major version number,
   // or 0 for others. It works by finding the "MSIE " string and
   // extracting the version number following the space, up to the decimal
   // point, ignoring the minor version number
   <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaSCRIPT">
   function msieversion()
   {
      var ua = window.navigator.userAgent
      var msie = ua.indexOf ( "MSIE " )

      if ( msie > 0 )      // If Internet Explorer, return version number
         return parseInt (ua.substring (msie+5, ua.indexOf (".", msie )))
      else                 // If another browser, return 0
         return 0

   }
   </SCRIPT>

Below is an example of how to call it anywhere in your html:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="javascript">
   if ( msieversion() >= 0 )

      document.write ( "This is Internet Explorer" );

   else

      document.write ( "This is another browser" );

   </SCRIPT>

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167820 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167820

edited Apr 06 '13 at 05:57

answered Apr 06 '13 at 05:14

Alexey Marzan

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It is better if you would give a real answer with code here and provide the link as backup where you got that information from. – Anthon Apr 06 '13 at 05:31
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I've corrected my answer. – Alexey Marzan Apr 06 '13 at 06:22
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"msieversion() >= 0" should read "msieversion > 0." Otherwise all browsers will return "This is Internet Explorer." – flyingace Feb 18 '14 at 23:17
chrome returns "This is Internet Explorer" – JoachimR Aug 31 '15 at 12:20

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:07

1

A very good article on this comes from Quirksmode: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/support.html

The script supplied by 'lajuette' is good but it doesn't make you much smarter. The same author explain his thinking behind the script in the above link and basically what he says is:

It is not about browser detection
It is about object detection
This leads to the knowledge of which browser is used.

answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:07

JeroenEijkhof

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This answer will help you regardless of a javascript framework, which I believe is the best starting point. – JeroenEijkhof Mar 22 '10 at 07:10

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:05

0

This is basic for browser type detection but from this littel code its difficult to understand what going wrong.... Can u add body of isBrowser() that will help.

answered Mar 22 '10 at 07:05

Anil Namde

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score -1 · Answer 7 · edited May 31 '13 at 06:59

-1

The best and shortest way to find the browser type for IE is.. U can do same for other browser types

if (navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer"){

// Ur piece of validation 

}

edited May 31 '13 at 06:59

Rob

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answered May 31 '13 at 06:41

Nitesh

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it will work only for IE 10 and earlier versions. Check it [here.](http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/prop_nav_appname.asp) – Alex Kulinkovich Oct 14 '14 at 09:17

score -1 · Answer 8 · edited Oct 13 '11 at 08:14

function whereUWantToDetectBrowser(){
        if (navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer")
        intExp();
        else
        other();

}
function intExp(){
        //do what you want to do for specifically Internet Explorer
}
function other(){
        //do what you want to do for other browsers
}

this code solves the problem. Instead of calling functions from whereUWantToDetectBrowser(), if you write your specific code there, this will cause an error. And code will not run. Because a browser detects the code which it has to run (specific to each browser). and if you are distinguishing the code means the code is not working in some browsers, so you want to write it specifically for those browsers. So, other() will have not effect in IE, as intExp() has no effect in other browsers.

Using javascript to detect browser type

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