How to Detect Browser Back Button event - Cross Browser

Question

How do you definitively detect whether or not the user has pressed the back button in the browser?

How do you enforce the use of an in-page back button inside a sin

Answer 1

Correct answer is already there to answer the question. I want to mention new JavaScript API PerformanceNavigationTiming, it's replacing deprecated performance.navigation.

Following code will log in console "back_forward" if user landed on your page using back or forward button. Take a look at compatibility table before using it in your project.

var perfEntries = performance.getEntriesByType("navigation");
for (var i = 0; i < perfEntries.length; i++) {
    console.log(perfEntries[i].type);
}