Window.top

Returns a reference to the topmost window in the window hierarchy.

Syntax

var topWindow = window.top;

Notes

Where the window.parent property returns the immediate parent of the current window, window.top returns the topmost window in the hierarchy of window objects.

This property is especially useful when you are dealing with a window that is in a subframe of a parent or parents, and you want to get to the top-level frameset.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard
The definition of 'window.top' in that specification.
Living Standard  
HTML5
The definition of 'window.top' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support (Yes) (Yes)[1] (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support ? ? ? ? ?

[1] Starting in Gecko 6.0 (Firefox 6.0 / Thunderbird 6.0 / SeaMonkey 2.3), this property is read only, as defined by the standard.

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: cvrebert,