How can you detect the version of a browser?

Question

I've been searching around for code that would let me detect if the user visiting the website has Firefox 3 or 4. All I have found is code to detect the type of browser but not the version.

How can I detect the version of a browser like this?

Solution 1

You can see what the browser says, and use that information for logging or testing multiple browsers.

navigator.sayswho= (function(){
    var ua= navigator.userAgent;
    var tem; 
    var M= ua.match(/(opera|chrome|safari|firefox|msie|trident(?=\/))\/?\s*(\d+)/i) || [];
    if(/trident/i.test(M[1])){
        tem=  /\brv[ :]+(\d+)/g.exec(ua) || [];
        return 'IE '+(tem[1] || '');
    }
    if(M[1]=== 'Chrome'){
        tem= ua.match(/\b(OPR|Edge)\/(\d+)/);
        if(tem!= null) return tem.slice(1).join(' ').replace('OPR', 'Opera');
    }
    M= M[2]? [M[1], M[2]]: [navigator.appName, navigator.appVersion, '-?'];
    if((tem= ua.match(/version\/(\d+)/i))!= null) M.splice(1, 1, tem[1]);
    return M.join(' ');
})();

console.log(navigator.sayswho); // outputs: `Chrome 62`

Solution 2

This is an improvement on Kennebec's answer.

function get_browser() {
    var ua=navigator.userAgent,tem,M=ua.match(/(opera|chrome|safari|firefox|msie|trident(?=\/))\/?\s*(\d+)/i) || []; 
    if(/trident/i.test(M[1])){
        tem=/\brv[ :]+(\d+)/g.exec(ua) || []; 
        return {name:'IE',version:(tem[1]||'')};
        }   
    if(M[1]==='Chrome'){
        tem=ua.match(/\bOPR|Edge\/(\d+)/)
        if(tem!=null)   {return {name:'Opera', version:tem[1]};}
        }   
    M=M[2]? [M[1], M[2]]: [navigator.appName, navigator.appVersion, '-?'];
    if((tem=ua.match(/version\/(\d+)/i))!=null) {M.splice(1,1,tem[1]);}
    return {
      name: M[0],
      version: M[1]
    };
 }

var browser=get_browser(); // browser.name = 'Chrome'
                           // browser.version = '40'

console.log(browser);

This way you can shield yourself from the obscurity of the code.

Solution 3

Here are several prominent libraries that handle browser detection as of May 2019.

Bowser by lancedikson - 3,761★s - Last updated May 26, 2019 - 4.8KB

var result = bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
console.log(result);
document.write("You are using " + result.parsedResult.browser.name +
               " v" + result.parsedResult.browser.version + 
               " on " + result.parsedResult.os.name);

<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/es5.js"></script>

*supports Edge based on Chromium

---

Platform.js by bestiejs - 2,250★s - Last updated Oct 30, 2018 - 5.9KB

console.log(platform);
document.write("You are using " + platform.name +
               " v" + platform.version + 
               " on " + platform.os);

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/platform/1.3.5/platform.min.js"></script>

jQuery Browser by gabceb - 504★s - Last updated Nov 23, 2015 - 1.3KB

console.log($.browser)
document.write("You are using " + $.browser.name +
               " v" + $.browser.versionNumber + 
               " on " + $.browser.platform);

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-browser/0.1.0/jquery.browser.min.js"></script>

Detect.js (Archived) by darcyclarke - 522★s - Last updated Oct 26, 2015 - 2.9KB

var result = detect.parse(navigator.userAgent);
console.log(result);
document.write("You are using " + result.browser.family +
               " v" + result.browser.version + 
               " on " + result.os.family);

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Detect.js/2.2.2/detect.min.js"></script>

Browser Detect (Archived) by QuirksMode - Last updated Nov 14, 2013 - 884B

console.log(BrowserDetect)
document.write("You are using " + BrowserDetect.browser +
               " v" + BrowserDetect.version + 
               " on " + BrowserDetect.OS);

<script src="https://kylemit.github.io/libraries/libraries/BrowserDetect.js"></script>

---

Notable Mentions:

• WhichBrowser - 1,355★s - Last updated Oct 2, 2018
• Modernizr - 23,397★s - Last updated Jan 12, 2019 - To feed a fed horse, feature detection should drive any canIuse style questions. Browser detection is really just for providing customized images, download files, or instructions for individual browsers.

Further Reading

• Stack Overflow - Browser detection in JavaScript?
• Stack Overflow - How to detect Safari, Chrome, IE, Firefox and Opera browser?

Solution 4

This combines kennebec's (K) answer with Hermann Ingjaldsson's (H) answer:

• Maintains original answer's minimal code. (K)
• Works with Microsoft Edge (K)
• Extends the navigator object instead of creating a new variable/object. (K)
• Separates browser version and name into independent child objects. (H)

 

navigator.browserSpecs = (function(){
    var ua = navigator.userAgent, tem, 
        M = ua.match(/(opera|chrome|safari|firefox|msie|trident(?=\/))\/?\s*(\d+)/i) || [];
    if(/trident/i.test(M[1])){
        tem = /\brv[ :]+(\d+)/g.exec(ua) || [];
        return {name:'IE',version:(tem[1] || '')};
    }
    if(M[1]=== 'Chrome'){
        tem = ua.match(/\b(OPR|Edge)\/(\d+)/);
        if(tem != null) return {name:tem[1].replace('OPR', 'Opera'),version:tem[2]};
    }
    M = M[2]? [M[1], M[2]]: [navigator.appName, navigator.appVersion, '-?'];
    if((tem = ua.match(/version\/(\d+)/i))!= null)
        M.splice(1, 1, tem[1]);
    return {name:M[0], version:M[1]};
})();

console.log(navigator.browserSpecs); //Object { name: "Firefox", version: "42" }

if (navigator.browserSpecs.name == 'Firefox') {
    // Do something for Firefox.
    if (navigator.browserSpecs.version > 42) {
        // Do something for Firefox versions greater than 42.
    }
}
else {
    // Do something for all other browsers.
}

Solution 5

The bowser JavaScript library offers this functionality.

if (bowser.msie && bowser.version <= 6) {
  alert('Hello China');
}

It seems to be well maintained.

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