react-router go back a page how do you configure history?

Question

Can anyone please tell me how I can go back to the previous page rather than a specific route?

When using this code:

var BackButton = React.createCla         


        

Answer 1

In react-router v4.x you can use history.goBack which is equivalent to history.go(-1).

App.js

import React from "react";
import { render } from "react-dom";
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Route, Link } from "react-router-dom";
import Home from "./Home";
import About from "./About";
import Contact from "./Contact";
import Back from "./Back";

const styles = {
  fontFamily: "sans-serif",
  textAlign: "left"
};

const App = () => (
  

    
      

        

          
Home
          
About
          
Contact
        

        


        
        
        

        {/* <----- This is component that will render Back button */}
      
    
  
);

render(, document.getElementById("root"));

Back.js

import React from "react";
import { withRouter } from "react-router-dom";

const Back = ({ history }) => (
  Back to previous page
);

export default withRouter(Back);

Demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/ywmvp95wpj

Please remember that by using history your users can leave because history.goBack() can load a page that visitor has visited before opening your application.

---

To prevent such situation as described above, I've created a simple library react-router-last-location that watch your users last location.

Usage is very straight forward. First you need to install react-router-dom and react-router-last-location from npm.

npm install react-router-dom react-router-last-location --save

Then use LastLocationProvider as below:

App.js

import React from "react";
import { render } from "react-dom";
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Route, Link } from "react-router-dom";
import { LastLocationProvider } from "react-router-last-location";
//              ↑
//              |
//              |
//
//       Import provider
//
import Home from "./Home";
import About from "./About";
import Contact from "./Contact";
import Back from "./Back";

const styles = {
  fontFamily: "sans-serif",
  textAlign: "left"
};

const App = () => (
  

    
Click on About to see your last location
    
      {/* <---- Put provider inside  */}
        

          

            
Home
            
About
            
Contact
          

          


          
          
          

          
        
      
    
  
);

render(, document.getElementById("root"));

Back.js

import React from "react";
import { Link } from "react-router-dom";
import { withLastLocation } from "react-router-last-location";
//              ↑
//              |
//              |
//
//    `withLastLocation` higher order component
//    will pass `lastLocation` to your component               
//
//                   |
//                   |
//                   ↓
const Back = ({ lastLocation }) => (
  lastLocation && Back to previous page
);


//          Remember to wrap
//   your component before exporting
//
//                   |
//                   |
//                   ↓
export default withLastLocation(Back);

Demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/727nqm99jj