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localStorage and sessionStorage, part of the web storage API, are two great tools to save key/value pairs locally.

Both localStorage and sessionStorage offer advantages compared to using cookies:

The data is saved locally only and can’t be read by the server, which eliminates the security issue that cookies present.

It allows for much more data to be saved ( 10Mb for most browsers).

for most browsers). It’s simpler to use and the syntax is very straightforward.

It’s also supported in all modern browsers, so you can use it today without an issue. Obviously, since the data can’t be read on the server, cookies still have a use, especially when it comes to authentication.

localStorage vs sessionStorage

localStorage and sessionStorage accomplish the exact same thing and have the same API, but with sessionStorage the data is persisted only until the window or tab is closed, while with localStorage the data is persisted until the user manually clears the browser cache or until your web app clears the data. The examples in this post are for localStorage, but the same syntax works for sessionStorage.

Creating Entries

Create key/value pair entries with localStorage.setItem, providing a key and a value:

let key = 'Item 1'; localStorage.setItem(key, 'Value');

Reading Entries

Read entries with localStorage.getItem:

let myItem = localStorage.getItem(key);

Updating Entries

Update an entry just as you would create a new one with setItem, but with a key that already exists:

localStorage.setItem(key, 'New Value');

Deleting Entries

Delete an entry with the removeItem method:

localStorage.removeItem(key);

Clearing Everything

Here’s how to clear everything that’s stored in localStorage:

localStorage.clear();

Storing Json Objects

Only strings can be stored with localStorage or sessionStorage, but you can use JSON.stringify to store more complex objects and JSON.parse to read them:

// Create item: let myObj = { name: 'Skip', breed: 'Labrador' }; localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(myObj)); // Read item: let item = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(key));

Checking for Items

Here’s how you can test for the presence of items in the loclaStorage:

if (localStorage.length > 0) { // We have items } else { // No items }

Checking for Support

Test for localStorage support by checking if it’s available on the window object:

if (window.localStorage) { // localStorage supported }

Iterating Over Items

localStorage or sessionStorage don’t have a forEach method, but you can iterate over the items with a good old for loop:

for (let i = 0; i < localStorage.length; i++){ let key = localStorage.key(i); let value = localStorage.getItem(key); console.log(key, value); }

Browser Support

Can I Use namevalue-storage? Data on support for the namevalue-storage feature across the major browsers from caniuse.com.