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name property (window)

Browser support:

Sets or retrieves the name of the current window object, which is used to identify the window.

With the name property, the name of a window can be modified, after the window has been created. It is also possible to specify the initial name of a newly created window.

When a window is opened by an anchor, then the target property specifies the initial name of the created window. For details, see Example 1 or the page for the target property.
When a window belongs to a frame or iframe element, then the name property sets the initial name of the contained window. See Example 2 for details.
Finally, if a window is created dynamically by the open method, then the second parameter of the method specifies the initial name of the created window. See Example 3 for details.

The name of windows can be used to identify them. When a new window needs to be opened with a specified name and a window opened by the current document already exists with the same name, then the browser uses the existing window instead of creating a new one.

Syntax:

object.name;

You can find the related objects in the Supported by objects section below.

This property is read/write.

Possible values:

String that specifies or retrieves the name of the window.

Default: this property has no default value.

Example HTML code 1:

This example shows how to create named windows with anchor elements:

Code

nameTest.htm

<a href="nameTest.htm" target="myWindow">Open a new window, with the name of myWindow!</a>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function GetName () {
            alert ("The name of the window: " + window.name);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body style="background-color:#fbd8a4;" onload="GetName ();">
    <h1>Name test</h1>
</body>
</html>

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Example HTML code 2:

This example illustrates named windows inside iframe objects:

Code

nameTest.htm

<iframe name="TargetFrame" src="nameTest.htm" height="150" width="200"></iframe>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function GetName () {
            alert ("The name of the window: " + window.name);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body style="background-color:#fbd8a4;" onload="GetName ();">
    <h1>Name test</h1>
</body>
</html>

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Example HTML code 3:

This example illustrates the use of the open method for creating named windows:

Code

nameTest.htm

<head>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function OpenChildWindow () {
            var childWindow = window.open ("nameTest.htm", "myWindow", "width=200,height=200", null);           
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <button onclick="OpenChildWindow ()">Open child window with name of myWindow!</button><br />
</body>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function GetName () {
            alert ("The name of the window: " + window.name);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body style="background-color:#fbd8a4;" onload="GetName ();">
    <h1>Name test</h1>
</body>
</html>