Open a link in a new tab(in same window) or reload and focus it if it is already opened using 'href'

Question

I want to open a link using 'href' (not using javascript/jQuery), in a new tab in the same window. If the link is already opened it should just reload it and focus it.

How can i code to achieve this?

I tried.

<a href="name.html" target="_blank">Click</a>

It doesn't reload the page if it already exists. It opens the link in new tab again and again.

Any Suggestion?

possible duplicate of [open url in new tab or reuse existing one whenever possible](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13779508/open-url-in-new-tab-or-reuse-existing-one-whenever-possible) — haxtbh, Feb 21 '15 at 14:19
not really a duplicate, as this question is about how to do it without scripting. — leo, Feb 21 '15 at 14:21
@haxtbh i'm asking that without using javascript. Is that possible? — user3784251, Feb 21 '15 at 14:25
The first part of the answer in that duplicate gives the solution without JS. — haxtbh, Feb 21 '15 at 14:28
@haxtbh But it doesn't focus that particular reloaded tab. Is there any other way to do this? — user3784251, Feb 21 '15 at 15:38

leo · Answer 1 · 2015-02-21T14:34:51.340

6

Simply give your target a unique value, like this:

<a href="http://stackoverflow.com" target="mynewwindow">Always opens in the same window</a>

This is the default behaviour of the target attribute. _blank is one of an handful special keywords, with special behaviours, as described in the HTML standard.

Note that the standard doesn't talk about windows, but about browsing context. A browsing context is typically a window or a tab, but this is up the browser.

As for the special keywords:

_blank means always use a new browsing context (e.g. tab or window)
_self means always use the same browsing context
_parent means use a parent context, if any
_top means use the topmost context, if there are any parents

With iframes, things are a little bit more complex.

edit: Note also that the second time a user clicks the link, the target page will not be reloaded. If you need a refresh, you will have to use Javascript.

edited Feb 21 '15 at 14:34

answered Feb 21 '15 at 14:27

leo

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i'm having `click` and another link with a query string as `clickkkk`. Is that possible to relaod that `page.html` with both query string? – user3784251 Feb 21 '15 at 14:39
I don't know. Why don't you try? – leo Feb 21 '15 at 15:17
it's working as per my wish but what if i don't want to refresh that new opened window ? please help me with this. I have opened new window once then it should not get refreshed. – Khushal Jul 07 '20 at 09:32

boateng · Answer 2 · 2017-09-19T18:17:35.313

If you want to always keep a popup "focused" you can use a trick originally found here. By rapidly open/close/open it we ensure it's always behaves like new window and grabs focus.

<a href="http://stackoverflow.com" onclick="
if(window.open('','reuse_win') != null) {
   window.open('','reuse_win').close();
}" target="reuse_win">Always opens in the same window and FOCUS</a>

Also works when submitting a "form" to a targeted window.

<form name=f1 method=post action=test.html>

  <input type=text name=name value='123'>

  <input type='submit' value='Submit' 

  onclick="if(window.open('','reuse_win') != null) {
       window.open('','reuse_win').close();
    }; this.form.target='reuse_win'; return true;">

</form>

Open a link in a new tab(in same window) or reload and focus it if it is already opened using 'href'

2 Answers2