{"id":234,"date":"2023-08-25T17:22:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T17:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/api.jquery.com\/?p=234"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:34:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:34:33","slug":"event.preventDefault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/event.preventDefault\/","title":{"rendered":"event.preventDefault()"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"event-preventDefault1\" class=\"entry method\"><h2 class=\"section-title\">\n<span class=\"name\">event.preventDefault()<\/span><span class=\"returns\">Returns: <a href=\"http:\/\/api.jquery.com\/Types\/#undefined\">undefined<\/a><\/span>\n<\/h2>\n<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"desc\"><strong>Description: <\/strong>If this method is called, the default action of the event will not be triggered.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"signatures\"><li class=\"signature\">\n<h4 class=\"name\">\n<span class=\"version-details\">version added: <a href=\"\/category\/version\/1.0\/\">1.0<\/a><\/span><a id=\"event-preventDefault\" href=\"#event-preventDefault\"><span class=\"icon-link\"><\/span>event.preventDefault()<\/a>\n<\/h4>\n<ul><li><div class=\"null-signature\">This method does not accept any arguments.<\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<div class=\"longdesc\" id=\"entry-longdesc\">\n    <p>For example, clicked anchors will not take the browser to a new URL. We can use <a href=\"\/event.isDefaultPrevented\/\"><code>event.isDefaultPrevented()<\/code><\/a> to determine if this method has been called by an event handler that was triggered by this event.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-examples\" id=\"entry-examples\"><header><h2>Example:<\/h2><\/header><div class=\"entry-example\" id=\"example-0\">\n<p>Cancel the default action (navigation) of the click.<\/p>\n<div class=\"syntaxhighlighter xml\">\n\t<table>\n\t\t<tbody>\n\t\t\t<tr>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<td class=\"gutter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n1\">1<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n2\">2<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n3\">3<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n4\">4<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n5\">5<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n6\">6<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n7\">7<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n8\">8<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n9\">9<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n10\">10<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n11\">11<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n12\">12<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n13\">13<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n14\">14<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n15\">15<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n16\">16<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n17\">17<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n18\">18<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n19\">19<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n20\">20<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n21\">21<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n22\">22<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"line n23\">23<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<td class=\"code\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<pre><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-meta\">&lt;!doctype <span class=\"hljs-meta-keyword\">html<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">html<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-attr\">lang<\/span>=<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"en\"<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">head<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>  <span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">meta<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-attr\">charset<\/span>=<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"utf-8\"<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>  <span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">title<\/span>&gt;<\/span>event.preventDefault demo<span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">title<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>  <span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">script<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-attr\">src<\/span>=<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"https:\/\/code.jquery.com\/jquery-4.0.0.js\"<\/span>&gt;<\/span><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">script<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">head<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">body<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code> <\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">a<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-attr\">href<\/span>=<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"https:\/\/jquery.com\"<\/span>&gt;<\/span>default click action is prevented<span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">a<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">div<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-attr\">id<\/span>=<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"log\"<\/span>&gt;<\/span><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">div<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code> <\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;<span class=\"hljs-name\">script<\/span>&gt;<\/span><span class=\"javascript\"><\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>$( <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"a\"<\/span> ).on( <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"click\"<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-function\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">function<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-params\"> event <\/span>) <\/span>{<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>  event.preventDefault();<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>  $( <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"&lt;div&gt;\"<\/span> )<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>    .append( <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"default \"<\/span> + event.type + <span class=\"hljs-string\">\" prevented\"<\/span> )<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>    .appendTo( <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"#log\"<\/span> );<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code>});<\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">script<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code> <\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">body<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"line\"><code><span class=\"hljs-tag\">&lt;\/<span class=\"hljs-name\">html<\/span>&gt;<\/span><\/code><\/div><\/div><\/pre>\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t<\/tbody>\n\t<\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n<h4>Demo:<\/h4>\n<div class=\"demo code-demo\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If this method is called, the default action of the event will not be triggered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event-object","category-78"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1503,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.jquery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}