[javascript] How to scroll HTML page to given anchor?

I’d like to make the browser to scroll the page to a given anchor, just by using JavaScript.

I have specified a name or id attribute in my HTML code:

 <a name="anchorName">..</a>

or

 <h1 id="anchorName2">..</h1>

I’d like to get the same effect as you’d get by navigating to http://server.com/path#anchorName. The page should be scrolled so that the anchor is near the top of the visible part of the page.

This works:

$('.scroll').on("click", function(e) {

  e.preventDefault();

  var dest = $(this).attr("href");

  $("html, body").animate({

    'scrollTop':   $(dest).offset().top

  }, 2000);

});

https://jsfiddle.net/68pnkfgd/

Just add the class 'scroll' to any links you wish to animate

Way simpler:

var element_to_scroll_to = document.getElementById('anchorName2');
// Or:
var element_to_scroll_to = document.querySelectorAll('.my-element-class')[0];
// Or:
var element_to_scroll_to = $('.my-element-class')[0];
// Basically `element_to_scroll_to` just have to be a reference
// to any DOM element present on the page
// Then:
element_to_scroll_to.scrollIntoView();

$(document).ready ->
  $("a[href^='#']").click ->
    $(document.body).animate
      scrollTop: $($(this).attr("href")).offset().top, 1000

In 2018, you don't need jQuery for something simple like this. The built in scrollIntoView() method supports a "behavior" property to smoothly scroll to any element on the page. You can even update the browser URL with a hash to make it bookmarkable.

From this tutorial on scrolling HTML Bookmarks, here is a native way to add smooth scrolling to all anchor links on your page automatically:

let anchorlinks = document.querySelectorAll('a[href^="#"]')
 
for (let item of anchorlinks) { // relitere 
    item.addEventListener('click', (e)=> {
        let hashval = item.getAttribute('href')
        let target = document.querySelector(hashval)
        target.scrollIntoView({
            behavior: 'smooth',
            block: 'start'
        })
        history.pushState(null, null, hashval)
        e.preventDefault()
    })
}

a vue2 solution ... add simple data property to simply force the update

  const app = new Vue({ 
  ... 

  , updated: function() {
           this.$nextTick(function() {
           var uri = window.location.href
           var anchor = ( uri.indexOf('#') === -1 ) ? '' : uri.split('#')[1]
           if ( String(anchor).length > 0 && this.updater === 'page_load' ) {
              this.updater = "" // only on page-load !
              location.href = "#"+String(anchor)
           }
         })
        }
     });
     app.updater = "page_load"

 /* smooth scrolling in css - works in html5 only */
 html, body {
     scroll-behavior: smooth;
 }

This is a working script that will scroll the page to the anchor. To setup just give the anchor link an id that matches the name attribute of the anchor that you want to scroll to.

<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function ($){ 
 $('a').click(function (){ 
  var id = $(this).attr('id');
  console.log(id);
  if ( id == 'cet' || id == 'protein' ) {
   $('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: $('[name="' + id + '"]').offset().top}, 'slow'); 
  }
 }); 
});
</script>

A pure javascript solution without JQuery. Tested on Chrome & I.e, not tested on IOS

function ScrollTo(name) {
  ScrollToResolver(document.getElementById(name));
}

function ScrollToResolver(elem) {
  var jump = parseInt(elem.getBoundingClientRect().top * .2);
  document.body.scrollTop += jump;
  document.documentElement.scrollTop += jump;
  if (!elem.lastjump || elem.lastjump > Math.abs(jump)) {
    elem.lastjump = Math.abs(jump);
    setTimeout(function() { ScrollToResolver(elem);}, "100");
  } else {
    elem.lastjump = null;
  }
}

demo: https://jsfiddle.net/jd7q25hg/12/

You can use jQuerys .animate(), .offset() and scrollTop. Like

$(document.body).animate({
    'scrollTop':   $('#anchorName2').offset().top
}, 2000);

example link: http://jsbin.com/unasi3/edit

If you don't want to animate use .scrollTop() like

$(document.body).scrollTop($('#anchorName2').offset().top);

or javascripts native location.hash like

location.hash = '#' + anchorid;

the easiest way to to make the browser to scroll the page to a given anchor is to type in your style.css *{scroll-behavior: smooth;} and in your html navigation use #NameOfTheSection

*{scroll-behavior: smooth;}

<a href="#scroll-to">Home<a/>

<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>
<p>other sections</p>

<section id="scroll-to">
<p>it will scroll down to this section</p>
</section>

I know this is question is really old, but I found an easy and simple jQuery solution in css-tricks. That's the one I'm using now.

$(function() {
  $('a[href*=#]:not([href=#])').click(function() {
    if (location.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') == this.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') && location.hostname == this.hostname) {
      var target = $(this.hash);
      target = target.length ? target : $('[name=' + this.hash.slice(1) +']');
      if (target.length) {
        $('html,body').animate({
          scrollTop: target.offset().top
        }, 1000);
        return false;
      }
    }
  });
});

The solution from CSS-Tricks no longer works in jQuery 2.2.0. It will throw a selector error:

JavaScript runtime error: Syntax error, unrecognized expression: a[href*=#]:not([href=#])

I fixed it by changing the selector. The full snippet is this:

$(function() {
  $("a[href*='#']:not([href='#'])").click(function() {
    if (location.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') == this.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') && location.hostname == this.hostname) {
    var target = $(this.hash);
    target = target.length ? target : $('[name=' + this.hash.slice(1) +']');
    if (target.length) {
      $('html,body').animate({
        scrollTop: target.offset().top
      }, 1000);
      return false;
    }
  }
 });
});

Most answers are unnecessarily complicated.

If you just want to jump to the target element, you don't need JavaScript:

# the link:
<a href="#target">Click here to jump.</a>

# target element:
<div id="target">Any kind of element.</div>

If you want to scroll to the target animatedly, please refer to @Shahil's answer.

2018-2020 Pure js:

There is a very convenient way to scroll to the element:

el.scrollIntoView({
  behavior: 'smooth', // smooth scroll
  block: 'start' // the upper border of the element will be aligned at the top of the visible part of the window of the scrollable area.
})

But as far as I understand he does not have such good support as the options below.

Learn more about the method.

If it is necessary that the element is in the top:

const element = document.querySelector('#element')
const topPos = element.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.pageYOffset

window.scrollTo({
  top: topPos, // scroll so that the element is at the top of the view
  behavior: 'smooth' // smooth scroll
})

Demonstration example on Codepen

If you want the element to be in the center:

const element = document.querySelector('#element')
const rect = element.getBoundingClientRect() // get rects(width, height, top, etc)
const viewHeight = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientHeight, window.innerHeight || 0);

window.scroll({
  top: rect.top + rect.height / 2 - viewHeight / 2,
  behavior: 'smooth' // smooth scroll
});

Demonstration example on Codepen

Support:

They write that scroll is the same method as scrollTo, but support shows better in scrollTo.

More about the method

Smoothly scroll to the proper position (2019)

Get correct y coordinate and use window.scrollTo({top: y, behavior: 'smooth'})

const id = 'anchorName2';
const yourElement = document.getElementById(id);
const y = yourElement.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.pageYOffset;

window.scrollTo({top: y, behavior: 'smooth'});

With offset

scrollIntoView is a good option too but it may not works perfectly in some cases. For example when you need additional offset. With scrollTo you just need to add that offset like this:

const yOffset = -10; 

window.scrollTo({top: y + yOffset, behavior: 'smooth'});

Great solution by jAndy, but the smooth scroll seems to be having issues working in firefox.

Writing it this way works in Firefox as well.

(function($) {
    $(document).ready(function() {
         $('html, body').animate({
           'scrollTop':   $('#anchorName2').offset().top
         }, 2000);
    });
})(jQuery);