go to url in javascript doesn't work properly

Question

I am trying to go to external url from my website with this code

var embed = "www.youtube.com";  
console.log(embed);
window.location.assign(embed);

However, the webpage doesn't go to the the link in var embed but go instead to Mywebsite/thepageofthatcode/www.youtube.com

window.location = "www.youtube.com";
window.location.href = "www.youtube.com";

I didn't get why is this happening?

Answer 1

Please ensure you add the http for external websites:

window.location.href = "http://www.youtube.com";

Answer 2

Add the protocol to make it work. Without the protocol it will search for www.youtube.com under your domain which is why it is redirecting to that way. Try

window.location.href = 'https://www.youtube.com';

Answer 3

You should use the protocol before the url. Otherwise, the browser will think that it is a path.

var embed = "http://www.youtube.com";  
console.log(embed);
window.location.assign(embed);

Answer 4

Add the protocol to make it work. Without the protocol, it thinks that www.youtube.com is a part of your website.

This is the problem. But here's a better why to fix it:

// Use RegExp to test if embed already has the protocol
// If not, prepend it to embed.
if (!/^https?:\/\//i.test(embed))
    embed = 'http://' + embed;

window.location.href = embed;

RegExp guide

URL Syntax

Answer 5

This solves the problem, only need to add the http part to the url

var embed = "http://www.youtube.com";  
window.open(embed);