[javascript] Getting a browser's name client-side

Is there any object or method that returns data about the browser, client-side?

For example, I need to detect if the browser is IE (Interner Explorer). Following is the code snippet.

function isInternetExplorer()
{
    if(navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft Internet Explorer") != -1)
    {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

Is there a better way?

This question is related to javascript browser cross-browser

The answer is


This code will return "browser" and "browserVersion"
Works on 95% of 80+ browsers

var geckobrowsers;
var browser = "";
var browserVersion = 0;
var agent = navigator.userAgent + " ";
if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "5.0" && agent.indexOf("like Gecko") != -1){
    geckobrowsers = agent.substring(agent.indexOf("like Gecko")+10).substring(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("like Gecko")+10).indexOf(") ")+2).replace("LG Browser", "LGBrowser").replace("360SE", "360SE/");
    for(i = 0; i < 1; i++){
        geckobrowsers = geckobrowsers.replace(geckobrowsers.substring(geckobrowsers.indexOf("("), geckobrowsers.indexOf(")")+1), "");
    }
    geckobrowsers = geckobrowsers.split(" ");
    for(i = 0; i < geckobrowsers.length; i++){
        if(geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("/") == -1)geckobrowsers[i] = "Chrome";
        if(geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("/") != -1)geckobrowsers[i] = geckobrowsers[i].substring(0, geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("/"));
    }
    if(geckobrowsers.length < 4){
        browser = geckobrowsers[0];
    } else {
        for(i = 0; i < geckobrowsers.length; i++){
            if(geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("Chrome") == -1 && geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("Safari") == -1 && geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("Mobile") == -1 && geckobrowsers[i].indexOf("Version") == -1)browser = geckobrowsers[i];
        }
    }
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "5.0" && agent.indexOf("Gecko/") != -1){
    browser = agent.substring(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Gecko/")+6).indexOf(" ") + agent.indexOf("Gecko/")+6).substring(0, agent.substring(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Gecko/")+6).indexOf(" ") + agent.indexOf("Gecko/")+6).indexOf("/"));
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "5.0" && agent.indexOf("Clecko/") != -1){
    browser = agent.substring(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Clecko/")+7).indexOf(" ") + agent.indexOf("Clecko/")+7).substring(0, agent.substring(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Clecko/")+7).indexOf(" ") + agent.indexOf("Clecko/")+7).indexOf("/"));
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "5.0"){
    browser = agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1, agent.indexOf(";"));
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "4.0" && agent.indexOf(")")+1 == agent.length-1){
    browser = agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1, agent.indexOf(")")).split("; ")[agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1, agent.indexOf(")")).split("; ").length-1];
} else if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("Mozilla/")+8, agent.indexOf(" ")) == "4.0" && agent.indexOf(")")+1 != agent.length-1){
    if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2).indexOf("/") != -1)browser = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2, agent.indexOf(") ")+2+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2).indexOf("/"));
    if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2).indexOf("/") == -1)browser = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2, agent.indexOf(") ")+2+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(") ")+2).indexOf(" "));
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else if(agent.substring(0, 6) == "Opera/"){
    browser = "Opera";
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
    if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1).indexOf(";") != -1)os = agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1, agent.indexOf("(")+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1).indexOf(";"));
    if(agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1).indexOf(";") == -1)os = agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1, agent.indexOf("(")+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf("(")+1).indexOf(")"));
} else if(agent.substring(0, agent.indexOf("/")) != "Mozilla" && agent.substring(0, agent.indexOf("/")) != "Opera"){
    browser = agent.substring(0, agent.indexOf("/"));
    browserVersion = agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1, agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1+agent.substring(agent.indexOf(browser)+browser.length+1).indexOf(" "));
} else {
    browser = agent;
}
alert(browser + " v" + browserVersion);

This is answered in

How to detect Safari, Chrome, IE, Firefox and Opera browser?

Check this fiddle.

Hope this helps.


It's all about what you really want to do, but in times to come and right now, the best way is avoid browser detection and check for features. like Canvas, Audio, WebSockets, etc through simple javascript calls or in your CSS, for me your best approach is use a tool like ModernizR:

Unlike with the traditional—but highly unreliable—method of doing “UA sniffing,” which is detecting a browser by its (user-configurable) navigator.userAgent property, Modernizr does actual feature detection to reliably discern what the various browsers can and cannot do.

If using CSS, you can do this:

.no-js .glossy,
.no-cssgradients .glossy {
    background: url("images/glossybutton.png");
}

.cssgradients .glossy {
    background-image: linear-gradient(top, #555, #333);
}

as it will load and append all features as a class name in the <html> element and you will be able to do as you wish in terms of CSS.

And you can even load files upon features, for example, load a polyfill js and css if the browser does not have native support

Modernizr.load([
  // Presentational polyfills
  {
    // Logical list of things we would normally need
    test : Modernizr.fontface && Modernizr.canvas && Modernizr.cssgradients,
    // Modernizr.load loads css and javascript by default
    nope : ['presentational-polyfill.js', 'presentational.css']
  },
  // Functional polyfills
  {
    // This just has to be truthy
    test : Modernizr.websockets && window.JSON,
    // socket-io.js and json2.js
    nope : 'functional-polyfills.js',
    // You can also give arrays of resources to load.
    both : [ 'app.js', 'extra.js' ],
    complete : function () {
      // Run this after everything in this group has downloaded
      // and executed, as well everything in all previous groups
      myApp.init();
    }
  },
  // Run your analytics after you've already kicked off all the rest
  // of your app.
  'post-analytics.js'
]);

a simple example of requesting features from javascript:

http://jsbin.com/udoyic/1


In c# you your browser name using:

System.Web.HttpBrowserCapabilities browser = Request.Browser;

For details see a link.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3yekbd5b%28v=vs.100%29.aspx

and in Client side:

JQuery:

jQuery.browser

For details see a link:

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.browser/


I found a purely Javascript solution here that seems to work for major browsers for both PC and Mac. I tested it in BrowserStack for both platforms and it works like a dream. The Javascript solution posted in this thread by Jason D'Souza is really nice because it gives you a lot of information about the browser, but it has an issue identifying Edge which seems to look like Chrome to it. His code could probably be modified a bit with this solution to make it work for Edge too. Here is the snippet of code I found:

    var browser = (function (agent) {
    switch (true) {
        case agent.indexOf("edge") > -1: return "edge";
        case agent.indexOf("edg") > -1: return "chromium based edge (dev or canary)";
        case agent.indexOf("opr") > -1 && !!window.opr: return "opera";
        case agent.indexOf("chrome") > -1 && !!window.chrome: return "chrome";
        case agent.indexOf("trident") > -1: return "ie";
        case agent.indexOf("firefox") > -1: return "firefox";
        case agent.indexOf("safari") > -1: return "safari";
        default: return "other";
    }
})(window.navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase());
console.log(window.navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase() + "\n" + browser);

The browser discloses it in navigator.userAgent. If you're using jQuery, you're better off using jQuery.browser as @Rab Nawaz said. However, as the API documentation says, it's better to check for feature support if possible. Quoting the documentation:

We recommend against using this property; please try to use feature detection instead (see jQuery.support). jQuery.browser may be moved to a plugin in a future release of jQuery.

Here is a code example:

function isIE() {
    if (window.jQuery) {
        return jQuery.browser.msie || false;
    } else {
        // adapted from jQuery's source:
        return navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('msie') >= 0;
    }
}

JavaScript side - you can get browser name like these ways...

if(window.navigator.appName == "") OR if(window.navigator.userAgent == "")

This is pure JavaScript solution. Which I was required.
I tried on different browsers. It is working fine. Hope it helps.

How do I detect the browser name ?

You can use the navigator.appName and navigator.userAgent properties. The userAgent property is more reliable than appName because, for example, Firefox (and some other browsers) may return the string "Netscape" as the value of navigator.appName for compatibility with Netscape Navigator.

Note, however, that navigator.userAgent may be spoofed, too – that is, clients may substitute virtually any string for their userAgent. Therefore, whatever we deduce from either appName or userAgent should be taken with a grain of salt.

var nVer = navigator.appVersion;
var nAgt = navigator.userAgent;
var browserName  = navigator.appName;
var fullVersion  = ''+parseFloat(navigator.appVersion); 
var majorVersion = parseInt(navigator.appVersion,10);
var nameOffset,verOffset,ix;

// In Opera, the true version is after "Opera" or after "Version"
if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Opera"))!=-1) {
   browserName = "Opera";
   fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+6);
   if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Version"))!=-1) 
     fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+8);
}
// In MSIE, the true version is after "MSIE" in userAgent
else if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("MSIE"))!=-1) {
   browserName = "Microsoft Internet Explorer";
   fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+5);
}
// In Chrome, the true version is after "Chrome" 
else if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Chrome"))!=-1) {
   browserName = "Chrome";
   fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+7);
}
// In Safari, the true version is after "Safari" or after "Version" 
else if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Safari"))!=-1) {
   browserName = "Safari";
   fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+7);
   if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Version"))!=-1) 
     fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+8);
}
// In Firefox, the true version is after "Firefox" 
else if ((verOffset=nAgt.indexOf("Firefox"))!=-1) {
    browserName = "Firefox";
    fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+8);
}
// In most other browsers, "name/version" is at the end of userAgent 
else if ( (nameOffset=nAgt.lastIndexOf(' ')+1) < (verOffset=nAgt.lastIndexOf('/')) ) {
    browserName = nAgt.substring(nameOffset,verOffset);
    fullVersion = nAgt.substring(verOffset+1);
    if (browserName.toLowerCase()==browserName.toUpperCase()) {
       browserName = navigator.appName;
    }
}
// trim the fullVersion string at semicolon/space if present
if ((ix=fullVersion.indexOf(";"))!=-1)
    fullVersion=fullVersion.substring(0,ix);
if ((ix=fullVersion.indexOf(" "))!=-1)
    fullVersion=fullVersion.substring(0,ix);

majorVersion = parseInt(''+fullVersion,10);
if (isNaN(majorVersion)) {
    fullVersion  = ''+parseFloat(navigator.appVersion); 
    majorVersion = parseInt(navigator.appVersion,10);
}

document.write(''
                +'Browser name  = '+browserName+'<br>'
                +'Full version  = '+fullVersion+'<br>'
                +'Major version = '+majorVersion+'<br>'
                +'navigator.appName = '+navigator.appName+'<br>'
                +'navigator.userAgent = '+navigator.userAgent+'<br>');

From the source javascripter.net


Based on is.js you can write a helper file for getting browser name like this-

const Browser = {};
const vendor = (navigator && navigator.vendor || '').toLowerCase();
const userAgent = (navigator && navigator.userAgent || '').toLowerCase();

Browser.getBrowserName = () => {
  if(isOpera()) return 'opera'; // Opera
  else if(isChrome()) return 'chrome'; // Chrome
  else if(isFirefox()) return 'firefox'; // Firefox
  else if(isSafari()) return 'safari'; // Safari
  else if(isInternetExplorer()) return 'ie'; // Internet Explorer
}


// Start Detecting browser helpers functions
function isOpera() {
  const isOpera = userAgent.match(/(?:^opera.+?version|opr)\/(\d+)/);
  return isOpera !== null;
}

function isChrome() {
  const isChrome = /google inc/.test(vendor) ? userAgent.match(/(?:chrome|crios)\/(\d+)/) : null;
  return isChrome !== null;
}

function isFirefox() {
  const isFirefox = userAgent.match(/(?:firefox|fxios)\/(\d+)/);
  return isFirefox !== null;
}

function isSafari() {
  const isSafari = userAgent.match(/version\/(\d+).+?safari/);
  return isSafari !== null;
}

function isInternetExplorer() {
  const isInternetExplorer = userAgent.match(/(?:msie |trident.+?; rv:)(\d+)/);
  return isInternetExplorer !== null;
}
// End Detecting browser helpers functions

export default Browser;

And just import this file where you need.

import Browser from './Browser.js';

const userBrowserName = Browser.getBrowserName() // return your browser name
                                                 // opera | chrome | firefox | safari | ie

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