Close Browser without Prompt

Question

Is it possible to close browsers, using JavaScript, PHP, or HTML without a prompt?

I was using this answer: How can I close a browser window without receiving the "Do you want to close this window" prompt?

I was using Internet Explorer but it has since been updated to version 10 (soon to be updated to 11) and this exploit does not work.

If there is a solution in a different (but updated) browser, that could work as well.

Could you elaborate on why you want to do this? As the current answer says, in general, a page that does this is incredibly rude, and I'm very happy that browsers don't allow it. But perhaps you have a good reason, and depending on that reason, another approach may work very well for you. — , Jul 18 '14 at 07:16
@hvd: Ever seen those "Close Window" buttons? It would be kinda ridiculous for them to ask you to confirm. — user541686, Jul 20 '14 at 09:28
@Mehrdad I've only seen them in pop-up windows where the browsers already don't ask for confirmation. If that were what the OP wanted to use it for, we wouldn't be reading this question. — , Jul 20 '14 at 09:50

score 12 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 17 '14 at 15:38

12

HTML can't do anything programatic. It's just markup.
PHP can only do programatic stuff at your server, not the browser, so no solution there either.
Finally, you cannot do it in JS either (unless it's a window opened by a script).

Imagine visiting a web site that closed your browser and you lost all of your open tabs.

answered Jul 17 '14 at 15:38

Shell Bryson

139
1
5

Figured I couldn't do it in PHP and HTML, but thought I'd ask for the hell of it. The JS makes sense as well. Are there no other alternatives to close a browser programmatically? – jlrosenberg Jul 17 '14 at 15:39
Or even just close the tab - which invalidates your last point? – jlrosenberg Jul 17 '14 at 15:56
2

"Can't do it in JS"? That's not right - there are browsers where it can be done. If there's a spec that says it can't be done, please quote it. – Marcin Jul 17 '14 at 17:48
I believe you can close a tab with js. You can also write a js extension to many browsers which will allow this. – Hogan Jul 17 '14 at 17:52
3

@Marcin: The spec you requested: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window.close And the MS one: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/ms536367(v=vs.85).aspx – NotMe Jul 18 '14 at 16:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 06 '15 at 05:13

There are different hacks for different browsers. This code is based on the one here with a small adjustment to the last else block to work on IE 11. I suggest you test it on other IE versions and see if it needs more tweaking.

function closeWindow() {
    var Browser = navigator.appName;
    var indexB = Browser.indexOf('Explorer');

    if (indexB > 0) {
        var indexV = navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') + 5;
        var Version = navigator.userAgent.substring(indexV, indexV + 1);

        if (Version >= 7) {
            window.open('', '_self', '');
            window.close();
        }
        else if (Version == 6) {
            window.opener = null;
            window.close();
        }
        else {
            window.opener = '';
            window.close();
        }

    }
    else {
        window.open('', '_self', '');
        window.close();
    }
}

Close Browser without Prompt

2 Answers2