HTML pageshow DOM Event: Reference and Examples

When someone interacts with a webpage, the browser sends events to the relevant JavaScript code. The pageshow event happens when a page is displayed, including when restored from history.

When pageshow happens

A page is displayed, including when restored from history.

You can listen for it using addEventListener(). That keeps event handling separate from HTML attributes such as onclick and works well with modern code organization.

A small working example

<p>Try the relevant browser action described below.</p>
<p id="event-status" role="status">Waiting for pageshow...</p>
<script>
    const eventTarget = window;
    const eventStatus = document.getElementById("event-status");

    if (eventTarget) {
        eventTarget.addEventListener("pageshow", (eventDetails) => {
            eventStatus.textContent = "pageshow event received";
            console.log(eventDetails.type, eventDetails.target);
        });
    }
</script>

Reading the code

The browser listens for pageshow on the relevant target. When the event occurs, the callback receives eventDetails, updates the status message and logs the event name and target in Developer Tools.

Navigate back to the page and inspect persisted.

eventDetails.persisted may be true when the page was restored from the back-forward cache.

Some events need a specific browser condition, another tab or window, or a Web Component to reproduce. Read the trigger steps carefully before deciding that an event handler is not working.

Try it in your browser

Open the page, show the Console panel, and follow this test: Navigate back to the page and inspect persisted. Then change one thing in the example and observe whether the event still fires.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Expecting pageshow to fire without its required user action or browser condition.
• Navigate back to the page and inspect persisted.
• Adding repeated event listeners without considering cleanup or unwanted side effects.

Key Takeaways

• pageshow reports a page is displayed, including when restored from history.
• addEventListener("pageshow", ...) listens for the event on the appropriate target.
• Navigate back to the page and inspect persisted.