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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-01T14:22:09+00:00

In other words what’s the difference between onclick=myFunction() and onclick=JavaScript:myFunction()

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In other words what’s the difference between

onclick="myFunction()"

and

onclick="JavaScript:myFunction()"
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The JavaScript: TYPE/LABEL/PREFIX (could not find the actual name for it) in the event handler serves one purpose only:

    In Internet Explorer (which supported VBScript as a browser language),
    IFF the FIRST script on the page is NOT JavaScript, inline JavaScript on the rest of the page had to have javascript: prefixing it.

    It is not to be confused with the javascript: protocol in the href (which, by the way, also should be avoided). href="javascript:..." is only ever needed in old netscapes in the AREA tag. When you see the href="javascript:void(0)" someone needs to use onclick="....; return false" instead, unless they put it there to alert the user that the link is a javascript driven one. It will fail if JS is turned off.

    Even better is to remove inline event handlers and use addEventListener – delegate when more than one element that needs the same eventListener.

    I looked for the official documentation from msdn, but here are discussions to back me up:

    Calling VBScript from Javascript

    Internet Explorer defaults to the language of the first script element
    it parses. So if the first script element is javascript, you shouldn’t
    need to specify "javascript:" in your event handler.

    https://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-135462.html (link not working anymore)

    You have to tell IE you are using VBS AND JScript, otherwise the
    assumption is all functions are VBS in this instance. Either add a
    (empty?) JavaScript script element [at the top of your page] or use the jscript: protocol on the
    onchange.
    onchange="jscript:location.hash=this[this.selectedIndex].value;"

    Example

    <html>
<head>
<script language="VBScript">
' some vbscript here forces the default language
' of the page to be VBScript and not jScript/JavaScript
</script>
</head>
<body onload="javascript:alert('I am inline in an event handler - boo me')">
.
.
  <a href="..." onclick="javascript:alert('and so am I'); return false">Click</a>
.
  <a href="javascript:alert('The javascript: PROTOCOL is NOT the same')">Click</a>


</body>
</html>
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