Does this javascript do anything?

Question

I'm trying to track down some javascript that is running when an anchor tag is clicked. Using Firebug I found this code:

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="return false;">
   ...
</a>

What, if anything would href="javascript:;" onclick="return false;" do here?

This is an abbreviated version of the code, if you'd like to see the full version let me know and I can throw it up. It didn't appear relevant to the question but I could be wrong...

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

3

there will be an event listener waiting for this link to be clicked.

and that return false prevents the browser from executing the redirect

answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

david.wosnitza

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interesting, any suggestions on how to find the event listener? – Abe Miessler Feb 08 '11 at 23:46
@Abe Miessler this is just wild guessing right now, but i suppose the is in some kind of container element. look for the ID's and CLASSES of those. then scan the loaded javascript for those id's and classe's and you might find something like 'addEventListener'.. depends on js library – david.wosnitza Feb 09 '11 at 10:15

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

0

Well the return false prevents the link from doing anything, so if the href was url, the link would not take you there, it wouldn't do anything.

I don't think javascript:; will do anything.

answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

Paul Creasey

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

0

It cancels the click event normally attached to a a tag

answered Feb 08 '11 at 23:37

Martin Jespersen

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Does this javascript do anything?

3 Answers3