How to Reload a Page using JavaScript

The location.reload() Method

JavaScript provides a method popular among developers — <kbd class="highlighted">location.reload()</kbd> — which reloads the page at the current URL.

The location interface represents the URL of the document it is linked to. The location object is a property of the window object, accessed via window.location. One of its methods is <kbd class="highlighted">reload()</kbd>, which is used to reload the document.

JavaScript window.location.reload() method

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <input type="button" value="Reload Page" onclick="window.location.reload()" />
    <div>Welcome to W3Docs</div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Info

A note from MDN: Firefox supports a non-standard forceGet boolean parameter for location.reload(), to tell Firefox to bypass its cache and force-reload the current document. However, in all other browsers, any parameter you specify in a location.reload() call will be ignored and have no effect of any kind.

A boolean parameter is not part of the current specification for location.reload(). Although many code examples incorrectly use it, it has never been part of any published specification.

Info

The JavaScript <kbd class="highlighted">reload()</kbd> method loads the page from the cache by default.

timeRefresh Function

There is also another way to reload the page using the <kbd class="highlighted">timeRefresh</kbd> function. You can specify how frequently to refresh the page, and it will be loaded non-stop:

How to Reload a Page using JavaScript

function timeRefresh(time) {
  setTimeout(() => location.reload(), time);
}

Then, you can use it with the onload event, for example, on the <body> element like so:

How to Reload a Page using JavaScript

<body onload="timeRefresh(2000);"> /* refresh every 2 seconds */

How to Reload a Page Using the JavaScript History Function

The history.go() method is usually used to navigate back or forward by passing a positive or negative value.

To refresh the page, pass 0:

How to Reload a Page using JavaScript

history.go(0);