Open In App

What’s the effect of adding return false to a click event listener ?

Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save
Share
Report

Given a link with onclick() event and return statement and the task is to get the effect after clicking the event. Below is a code containing anchor element, onclick() event, and return statement.

<a href='https://www.google.com' 
    onclick='someFunc(3); 
    return false;'>
    Click here !
</a>

What is the effect of the return false to a click event listener?

Explanation: Have you ever come across pop up alerts on websites asking for permission for a task/redirection? Those pop-ups have two choices yes or no. If there is a return false statement then there in an event listener for that alert message, it may correspond to not executing the default set of instructions .

The return value of the event handler is used to determine if the default (desired) browser behavior should take place or not.

Example: The following JavaScript code (tobrdeleted.js), which prints the number plus 1.

Javascript




function someFunc(n) {
   console.log(n + 1);
}


Let’s say we invoke the above function using the following HTML code.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<head>
    <script src="tobrdeleted.js"></script>
</head>
  
<body>
    <a href='https://www.geeksforgeeks.org' 
        onclick='someFunc(3); return true;'>
        Click here !
    </a>
</body>
  
</html>


When we write return true; then on click of “Click here !” takes us to the target page (in our case, www.geeksforgeeks.org) and the function someFunc(3) is not called.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<head>
    <script src="tobrdeleted.js"></script>
</head>
  
<body>
    <a href='https://www.geeksforgeeks.org' 
        onclick='someFunc(3); return false;'>
        Click here !
    </a>
</body>
  
</html>


When we write return false; then on click of “Click here !” does not redirect to anywhere. Instead, it executes the function someFunc(3).



Last Updated : 24 Jan, 2021
Like Article
Save Article
Previous
Next
Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads