Open a URL in a new tab (and not a new window)

This is a trick,

function openInNewTab(url) {
  window.open(url, '_blank').focus();
}

// Or just
window.open(url, '_blank').focus();

In most cases, this should happen directly in the onclick handler for the link to prevent pop-up blockers, and the default "new window" behavior. You could do it this way, or by adding an event listener to your DOM object.

<div onclick="openInNewTab('www.test.com');">Something To Click On</div>

Reference: Open a URL in a new tab using JavaScript

Nothing an author can do can choose to open in a new tab instead of a new window; it is a user preference. (Note that the default user preference in most browsers is for new tabs, so a trivial test on a browser where that preference hasn't been changed will not demonstrate this.)

CSS3 proposed target-new, but the specification was abandoned.

The reverse is not true; by specifying certain window features for the window in the third argument of window.open(), you can trigger a new window when the preference is for tabs.

window.open() will not open in a new tab if it is not happening on the actual click event. In the example given the URL is being opened on the actual click event. This will work provided the user has appropriate settings in the browser.

<a class="link">Link</a>
<script  type="text/javascript">
     $("a.link").on("click",function(){
         window.open('www.yourdomain.com','_blank');
     });
</script>

Similarly, if you are trying to do an Ajax call within the click function and want to open a window on success, ensure you are doing the Ajax call with the async : false option set.

This creates a virtual a element, gives it target="_blank", so it opens in a new tab, gives it the proper URL href and then clicks it.

function openInNewTab(href) {
  Object.assign(document.createElement('a'), {
    target: '_blank',
    rel: 'noopener noreferrer',
    href: href,
  }).click();
}

And then you can use it like:

openInNewTab("https://google.com");

Important note:

This must be called during the so-called 'trusted event' callback—e.g., during the click event (not necessary in a callback function directly, but during a click action). Otherwise opening a new page will be blocked by the browser.

If you call it manually at some random moment (e.g., inside an interval or after server response), it might be blocked by the browser (which makes sense as it'd be a security risk and might lead to poor user experience).

Browsers have different behaviors for how they handle window.open

You cannot expect the behavior to be the same across all browsers. window.open doesn't reliably open pop-ups on a new tab across browsers, and it also depends on the user's preferences.

On Internet Explorer (11), for example, users can choose to open popups in a new window or a new tab, you cannot force Internet Explorer 11 to open popups in a certain way through window.open, as alluded to in Quentin's answer.

As for Firefox (29), the behavior for window.open(url, '_blank') depends on the browser's tab preferences, though you can still force it to open URLs in a popup window by specifying a width and height (see the "Chrome" section below).

Internet Explorer (11)

You can set Internet Explorer to open pop-ups in a new window:

After doing that, try running window.open(url) and window.open(url, '_blank'). Observe that the pages open in a new window, not a new tab.

Firefox (29)

You can also set the tab preference to open new windows, and see the same results.

Chrome

It looks like Chrome (version 34) does not have any settings for choosing to open popups in a new window or a new tab. Although, some ways to do it (editing the registry) are discussed in this question.

In Chrome and Firefox, specifying a width and height will force a popup (as mentioned in the answers here), even when a user has set Firefox to open new windows in a new tab

let url = 'https://stackoverflow.com'
window.open(url, '', 'width=400, height=400')

However, in Internet Explorer 11 the same code will always open a link in a new tab if tabs is chosen in the browser preferences, specifying a width and height will not force a new window popup.

In Chrome, it seems window.open opens a new tab when it is used in an onclick event, and a new window when it is used from the browser console (as noted by other people), and pop-ups open when a width and height are specified.

Additional reading: window.open documentation.

If you use window.open(url, '_blank'), it will be blocked (popup blocker) on Chrome.

Try this:

//With JQuery

$('#myButton').click(function () {
    var redirectWindow = window.open('http://google.com', '_blank');
    redirectWindow.location;
});

With pure JavaScript,

document.querySelector('#myButton').onclick = function() {
    var redirectWindow = window.open('http://google.com', '_blank');
    redirectWindow.location;
};

To elaborate Steven Spielberg's answer, I did this in such a case:

$('a').click(function() {
  $(this).attr('target', '_blank');
});

This way, just before the browser will follow the link I'm setting the target attribute, so it will make the link open in a new tab or window (depends on user's settings).

One line example in jQuery:

$('a').attr('target', '_blank').get(0).click();
// The `.get(0)` must be there to return the actual DOM element.
// Doing `.click()` on the jQuery object for it did not work.

This can also be accomplished just using native browser DOM APIs as well:

document.querySelector('a').setAttribute('target', '_blank');
document.querySelector('a').click();

I use the following and it works very well!

window.open(url, '_blank').focus();

I think that you can't control this. If the user had setup their browser to open links in a new window, you can't force this to open links in a new tab.

JavaScript open in a new window, not tab

Whether to open the URL in a new tab or a new window, is actually controlled by the user's browser preferences. There is no way to override it in JavaScript.

window.open() behaves differently depending on how it is being used. If it is called as a direct result of a user action, let us say a button click, it should work fine and open a new tab (or window):

const button = document.querySelector('#openTab');

// add click event listener
button.addEventListener('click', () => {
    // open a new tab
    const tab = window.open('https://attacomsian.com', '_blank');
});

However, if you try to open a new tab from an AJAX request callback, the browser will block it as it was not a direct user action.

To bypass the popup blocker and open a new tab from a callback, here is a little hack:

const button = document.querySelector('#openTab');

// add click event listener
button.addEventListener('click', () => {

    // open an empty window
    const tab = window.open('about:blank');

    // make an API call
    fetch('/api/validate')
        .then(res => res.json())
        .then(json => {

            // TODO: do something with JSON response

            // update the actual URL
            tab.location = 'https://attacomsian.com';
            tab.focus();
        })
        .catch(err => {
            // close the empty window
            tab.close();
        });
});

An interesting fact is that the new tab can not be opened if the action is not invoked by the user (clicking a button or something) or if it is asynchronous, for example, this will not open in new tab:

$.ajax({
    url: "url",
    type: "POST",
    success: function() {
        window.open('url', '_blank');              
    }
});

But this may open in a new tab, depending on browser settings:

$.ajax({
    url: "url",
    type: "POST",
    async: false,
    success: function() {
        window.open('url', '_blank');              
    }
});

Just omitting the strWindowFeatures parameters will open a new tab, unless the browser setting overrides it (browser settings trumps JavaScript).

New window

var myWin = window.open(strUrl, strWindowName, [strWindowFeatures]);

New tab

var myWin = window.open(strUrl, strWindowName);

-- or --

var myWin = window.open(strUrl);

This has nothing to do with browser settings if you are trying to open a new tab from a custom function.

In this page, open a JavaScript console and type:

document.getElementById("nav-questions").setAttribute("target", "_blank");
document.getElementById("nav-questions").click();

And it will try to open a popup regardless of your settings, because the 'click' comes from a custom action.

In order to behave like an actual 'mouse click' on a link, you need to follow spirinvladimir's advice and really create it:

document.getElementById("nav-questions").setAttribute("target", "_blank");
document.getElementById("nav-questions").dispatchEvent((function(e){
  e.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                    false, false, false, false, 0, null);
  return e
}(document.createEvent('MouseEvents'))));

Here is a complete example (do not try it on jsFiddle or similar online editors, as it will not let you redirect to external pages from there):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <style>
    #firing_div {
      margin-top: 15px;
      width: 250px;
      border: 1px solid blue;
      text-align: center;
    }
  </style>
</head>

<body>
  <a id="my_link" href="http://www.google.com"> Go to Google </a>
  <div id="firing_div"> Click me to trigger custom click </div>
</body>

<script>
  function fire_custom_click() {
    alert("firing click!");
    document.getElementById("my_link").dispatchEvent((function(e){
      e.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, /* type, canBubble, cancelable, view */
            0, 0, 0, 0, 0,              /* detail, screenX, screenY, clientX, clientY */
            false, false, false, false, /* ctrlKey, altKey, shiftKey, metaKey */
            0, null);                   /* button, relatedTarget */
      return e
    }(document.createEvent('MouseEvents'))));
  }
  document.getElementById("firing_div").onclick = fire_custom_click;
</script>
</html>

function openTab(url) {
  const link = document.createElement('a');
  link.href = url;
  link.target = '_blank';
  document.body.appendChild(link);
  link.click();
  link.remove();
}

(function(a) {
    document.body.appendChild(a);
    a.setAttribute('href', location.href);
    a.dispatchEvent((function(e) {
        e.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, true, false, false, false, 0, null);
        return e
    }(document.createEvent('MouseEvents'))))
}(document.createElement('a')))

You can use a trick with form:

$(function () {
    $('#btn').click(function () {
        openNewTab("http://stackoverflow.com")
        return false;
    });
});

function openNewTab(link) {
    var frm = $('<form   method="get" action="' + link + '" target="_blank"></form>')
    $("body").append(frm);
    frm.submit().remove();
}

jsFiddle demo

Do not use target="_blank"

Always use a specific name for that window, in my case meaningfulName. In this case you save processor resources:

button.addEventListener('click', () => {
    window.open('https://google.com', 'meaningfulName')
})

In this way, when you click, for example, 10 times on a button, the browser will always rerender it in one new tab, instead of opening it in 10 different tabs, which will consume much more resources.

You can read more about this on MDN.

jQuery

$('<a />',{'href': url, 'target': '_blank'}).get(0).click();

JavaScript

Object.assign(document.createElement('a'), { target: '_blank', href: 'URL_HERE'}).click();

To open a new tab and stay on the same location, you can open the current page in the new tab, and redirect the old tab to the new URL.

let newUrl = 'http://example.com';
let currentUrl = window.location.href;
window.open(currentUrl , '_blank'); // Open window with the URL of the current page
location.href = newUrl; // Redirect the previous window to the new URL

You will be automatically moved by the browser to a new opened tab. It will look like your page is reloaded and you will stay on same page but on a new window:

Or you could just create a link element and click it...

var evLink = document.createElement('a');
evLink.href = 'http://' + strUrl;
evLink.target = '_blank';
document.body.appendChild(evLink);
evLink.click();
// Now delete it
evLink.parentNode.removeChild(evLink);

This shouldn't be blocked by any popup blockers... Hopefully.

There is an answer to this question and it is not no.

I found an easy workaround:

Step 1: Create an invisible link:

<a id="yourId" href="yourlink.html" target="_blank" style="display: none;"></a>

Step 2: Click on that link programmatically:

document.getElementById("yourId").click();

Here you go! It works a charm for me.

Here's an example of how we can put it inside an HTML tag

<button onClick="window.open('https://stackoverflow.com/','_blank')">Stackoverflow</button>

How about creating an <a> with _blank as target attribute value and the url as href, with style display:hidden with a a children element? Then add to the DOM and then trigger the click event on a children element.

UPDATE

That doesn't work. The browser prevents the default behaviour. It could be triggered programmatically, but it doesn't follow the default behaviour.

Check and see for yourself: http://jsfiddle.net/4S4ET/

This might be a hack, but in Firefox if you specify a third parameter, 'fullscreen=yes', it opens a fresh new window.

For example,

<a href="#" onclick="window.open('MyPDF.pdf', '_blank', 'fullscreen=yes'); return false;">MyPDF</a>

It seems to actually override the browser settings.

The window.open(url) will open the URL in a new browser tab. Below is the JavaScript alternative to it:

let a = document.createElement('a');
a.target = '_blank';
a.href = 'https://support.wwf.org.uk/';
a.click(); // We don't need to remove 'a' from the DOM, because we did not add it

Here is a working example (Stack Overflow snippets do not allow opening a new tab).

There are lots of answer copies suggesting using "_blank" as the target, however I found this didn't work. As Prakash notes, it is up to the browser. However, you can make certain suggestions to the browser, such as to whether the window should have a location bar.

If you suggest enough "tab-like things" you might get a tab, as per Nico's answer to this more specific question for chrome:

window.open('http://www.stackoverflow.com', '_blank', 'toolbar=yes, location=yes, status=yes, menubar=yes, scrollbars=yes');

Disclaimer: This is not a panacea. It is still up to the user and browser. Now at least you've specified one more preference for what you'd like your window to look like.

Opening a new tab from within a Firefox (Mozilla) extension goes like this:

gBrowser.selectedTab = gBrowser.addTab("http://example.com");

This way is similar to the previous solutions, but implemented differently:

.social_icon -> some class with CSS

 <div class="social_icon" id="SOME_ID" data-url="SOME_URL"></div>

 $('.social_icon').click(function(){

        var url = $(this).attr('data-url');
        var win = window.open(url, '_blank');  ///similar to above solution
        win.focus();
   });

This works for me. Just prevent the event, add the URL to an <a> tag, and then trigger the click event on that tag.

JavaScript

$('.myBtn').on('click', function(event) {
        event.preventDefault();
        $(this).attr('href', "http://someurl.com");
        $(this).trigger('click');
});

HTML

<a href="#" class="myBtn" target="_blank">Go</a>

I'm going to agree somewhat with the person who wrote (paraphrased here): "For a link in an existing web page, the browser will always open the link in a new tab if the new page is part of the same web site as the existing web page." For me, at least, this "general rule" works in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari, SeaMonkey, and Konqueror.

Anyway, there is a less complicated way to take advantage of what the other person presented. Assuming we are talking about your own web site ("thissite.com" below), where you want to control what the browser does, then, below, you want "specialpage.htm" to be empty, no HTML at all in it (it saves time sending data from the server!).

 var wnd, URL; // Global variables

 // Specifying "_blank" in window.open() is SUPPOSED to keep the new page from replacing the existing page
 wnd = window.open("http://www.thissite.com/specialpage.htm", "_blank"); // Get reference to just-opened page
 // If the "general rule" above is true, a new tab should have been opened.
 URL = "http://www.someothersite.com/desiredpage.htm";  // Ultimate destination
 setTimeout(gotoURL(), 200);  // Wait 1/5 of a second; give browser time to create tab/window for empty page


 function gotoURL()
 { 
   wnd.open(URL, "_self");  // Replace the blank page, in the tab, with the desired page
   wnd.focus();             // When browser not set to automatically show newly-opened page, this MAY work
 }