HTML anchor tag have href first then onclick()

Question

In an anchor tag with both href and onClick, is it possible to have the href first go to the link then execute the onClick()?

For example, I want this anchor tag to first go to the link and then call the highlightButton function.

<a
  class="page-link" 
  href="?page={{step.previous_page_number}}" 
  onClick="highlightButton();"
  aria-label="Previous"
>Previous</a>

Answer 1

Nope. You can, however, check and validate the parameter page from the URL when the document is ready then execute the highlightButton() function.

Example:

HTML

<a class="page-link" href="?page={{step.previous_page_number}}" aria label="Previous">Previous</a>

javaScript

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
    const params = new URLSearchParams(location.search);
    const page = params.get("page");

    // Example Validation
    if (page != "" || page != null) {
        highlightButton();
    }

    function highlightButton() {
        // Code goes here
    }
});

Answer 2

No, You cannot do that, by opening a new link, the last page wont work at the background but if you want to use a specific function in the next page, just write the function and call it at the top of your script tag!

Like this:

<script>
    highlightButton()
    function highlightButton() {
        // your code 
    }
</script>