Skip to content

How to use window.confirm()

How to use the confirm() API offered by browsers to let the user confirm

confirm() lets us ask confirmation before performing something.

This API dates back to the dawn of the Web, and is supported by every browser.

It's very simple and I think it might come handy in many different cases without reaching for a custom-built UI.

Here's how it works: you call confirm(), passing a string that represents the thing we want to confirm, which is shown to the user:

confirm("Are you sure you want to delete this element?")

This is how it looks in Chrome:

This is in Safari:

This is in Firefox:

As you can see it's rendered slightly differently in each browser, but the concept is the same.

You should call window.confirm(), but since window is implicit, confirm() works

The browser blocks the script execution until the user clicks any of the OK or Cancel button. You can't escape from that without clicking a button.

The call to confirm() returns a boolean value that's either true, if the user clicks OK, or false if the user clicks Cancel, so we can assign it to a variable, or also use it in a conditional:

const confirmed = confirm("Are you sure you want to delete this element?")
if (confirm("Are you sure you want to delete this element?")) {
  console.log('confirmed')
}
→ Download my free JavaScript Handbook!

THE VALLEY OF CODE

THE WEB DEVELOPER's MANUAL

You might be interested in those things I do:

  • Learn to code in THE VALLEY OF CODE, your your web development manual
  • Find a ton of Web Development projects to learn modern tech stacks in practice in THE VALLEY OF CODE PRO
  • I wrote 16 books for beginner software developers, DOWNLOAD THEM NOW
  • Every year I organize a hands-on cohort course coding BOOTCAMP to teach you how to build a complex, modern Web Application in practice (next edition February-March-April-May 2024)
  • Learn how to start a solopreneur business on the Internet with SOLO LAB (next edition in 2024)
  • Find me on X

Related posts that talk about js: