/ Ruby on Rails
/
method

link_to

rails latest stable - Class: ActionView::Helpers::UrlHelper
link_to(name = nil, options = nil, html_options = nil, &block)
public

Creates an anchor element of the given name using a URL created by the set of options. See the valid options in the documentation for url_for. It’s also possible to pass a String instead of an options hash, which generates an anchor element that uses the value of the String as the href for the link. Using a :back Symbol instead of an options hash will generate a link to the referrer (a JavaScript back link will be used in place of a referrer if none exists). If nil is passed as the name the value of the link itself will become the name.

Signatures

link_to(body, url, html_options = {})
  # url is a String; you can use URL helpers like
  # posts_path

link_to(body, url_options = {}, html_options = {})
  # url_options, except :method, is passed to url_for

link_to(options = {}, html_options = {}) do
  # name
end

link_to(url, html_options = {}) do
  # name
end

link_to(active_record_model)

Options

  • :data - This option can be used to add custom data attributes.

Examples

Because it relies on url_for, link_to supports both older-style controller/action/id arguments and newer RESTful routes. Current Rails style favors RESTful routes whenever possible, so base your application on resources and use

link_to "Profile", profile_path(@profile)
# => <a href="/profiles/1">Profile</a>

or the even pithier

link_to "Profile", @profile
# => <a href="/profiles/1">Profile</a>

in place of the older more verbose, non-resource-oriented

link_to "Profile", controller: "profiles", action: "show", id: @profile
# => <a href="/profiles/show/1">Profile</a>

Similarly,

link_to "Profiles", profiles_path
# => <a href="/profiles">Profiles</a>

is better than

link_to "Profiles", controller: "profiles"
# => <a href="/profiles">Profiles</a>

When name is nil the href is presented instead

link_to nil, "http://example.com"
# => <a href="http://www.example.com">http://www.example.com</a>

More concise yet, when name is an Active Record model that defines a to_s method returning a default value or a model instance attribute

link_to @profile
# => <a href="http://www.example.com/profiles/1">Eileen</a>

You can use a block as well if your link target is hard to fit into the name parameter. ERB example:

<%= link_to(@profile) do %>
  <strong><%= @profile.name %></strong> -- <span>Check it out!</span>
<% end %>
# => <a href="/profiles/1">
       <strong>David</strong> -- <span>Check it out!</span>
     </a>

Classes and ids for CSS are easy to produce:

link_to "Articles", articles_path, id: "news", class: "article"
# => <a href="/articles" class="article" id="news">Articles</a>

Be careful when using the older argument style, as an extra literal hash is needed:

link_to "Articles", { controller: "articles" }, id: "news", class: "article"
# => <a href="/articles" class="article" id="news">Articles</a>

Leaving the hash off gives the wrong link:

link_to "WRONG!", controller: "articles", id: "news", class: "article"
# => <a href="/articles/index/news?class=article">WRONG!</a>

link_to can also produce links with anchors or query strings:

link_to "Comment wall", profile_path(@profile, anchor: "wall")
# => <a href="/profiles/1#wall">Comment wall</a>

link_to "Ruby on Rails search", controller: "searches", query: "ruby on rails"
# => <a href="/searches?query=ruby+on+rails">Ruby on Rails search</a>

link_to "Nonsense search", searches_path(foo: "bar", baz: "quux")
# => <a href="/searches?foo=bar&baz=quux">Nonsense search</a>

You can set any link attributes such as target, rel, type:

link_to "External link", "http://www.rubyonrails.org/", target: "_blank", rel: "nofollow"
# => <a href="http://www.rubyonrails.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">External link</a>

Turbo

Rails 7 ships with Turbo enabled by default. Turbo provides the following :data options:

  • turbo_method: symbol of HTTP verb - Performs a Turbo link visit with the given HTTP verb. Forms are recommended when performing non-GET requests. Only use data-turbo-method where a form is not possible.

  • turbo_confirm: "question?" - Adds a confirmation dialog to the link with the given value.

Consult the Turbo Handbook for more information on the options above.

Examples
link_to "Delete profile", @profile, data: { turbo_method: :delete }
# => <a href="/profiles/1" data-turbo-method="delete">Delete profile</a>

link_to "Visit Other Site", "https://rubyonrails.org/", data: { turbo_confirm: "Are you sure?" }
# => <a href="https://rubyonrails.org/" data-turbo-confirm="Are you sure?">Visit Other Site</a>

Deprecated: Rails UJS Attributes

Prior to Rails 7, Rails shipped with a JavaScript library called @rails/ujs on by default. Following Rails 7, this library is no longer on by default. This library integrated with the following options:

  • method: symbol of HTTP verb - This modifier will dynamically create an HTML form and immediately submit the form for processing using the HTTP verb specified. Useful for having links perform a POST operation in dangerous actions like deleting a record (which search bots can follow while spidering your site). Supported verbs are :post, :delete, :patch, and :put. Note that if the user has JavaScript disabled, the request will fall back to using GET. If href: '#' is used and the user has JavaScript disabled clicking the link will have no effect. If you are relying on the POST behavior, you should check for it in your controller’s action by using the request object’s methods for post?, delete?, patch?, or put?.

  • remote: true - This will allow @rails/ujs to make an Ajax request to the URL in question instead of following the link.

@rails/ujs also integrated with the following :data options:

  • confirm: "question?" - This will allow @rails/ujs to prompt with the question specified (in this case, the resulting text would be question?). If the user accepts, the link is processed normally, otherwise no action is taken.

  • :disable_with - Value of this parameter will be used as the name for a disabled version of the link.

Rails UJS Examples
link_to "Remove Profile", profile_path(@profile), method: :delete
# => <a href="/profiles/1" rel="nofollow" data-method="delete">Remove Profile</a>

link_to "Visit Other Site", "http://www.rubyonrails.org/", data: { confirm: "Are you sure?" }
# => <a href="http://www.rubyonrails.org/" data-confirm="Are you sure?">Visit Other Site</a>

14Notes

Link to caller URL

dmantilla · Oct 1, 200815 thanks
link_to "Back", :back

Link to same URL with different format

hannu · Jul 4, 200813 thanks

Use +params+.+merge+ as options. Ex.

<%= link_to "RSS feed", params.merge(:format => :rss), :class => "feed_link" %>

Opening a link in a new window

zoopzoop · Oct 20, 20088 thanks

Use "_blank", not "_new" to open a link in a new window. link_to "External link", "http://foo.bar", :target => "_blank" # => External link

link_to some url with current params

bansalakhil · Jan 9, 20098 thanks

==== Code example

link_to "some text", users_path(:params => params, :more_params => "more params")

Window open a dialog of no menu, no status, have scroll

RobinWu · Jul 4, 20086 thanks

==== Example

link_to name, url, :popup => ['dialog name','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes']

Anchor tag in link_to

bansalakhil · Feb 18, 20096 thanks

==== Code example

link_to("some text", articles_path(:anchor => "comment"))

will output some text

HTML5 data- attributes using RESTful approach

tomharrisonjr · Apr 25, 20126 thanks

HTML5 specifies extensible attributes like data-foo="bar" (or as in Twitter Bootstrap data-toggle="modal"), which poses two problems for Rails.

First, if you're using symbol notation in link_to to specify attributes, this fails (dash is not a valid symbol character), so === Invalid! link_to "Edit", @user, :class => "btn", :data-toggle => "modal"

There are two solutions:

  1. put the symbols in quotes,
  2. use the special +:data+ hash

=== Solution 1: Quote Symbols link_to "Edit", @user, :class => "btn", "data-toggle" => "modal"

=== Solution 2: Use the :data hash link_to "Edit", @user, :class => "btn", :data => {:toggle => "modal"}

=== Resulting HTML <a href="/users/1" class="btn", data-toggle="modal">Edit

The second is minimally documented, but as a hash, can accept multiple values and is perhaps a little cleaner

Remember to sanitize name

ville · Feb 17, 20092 thanks

While useful when in need of richer markup inside a link, the name parameter isn't sanitized or escaped and thus should be escaped when its content can't be guaranteed to be safe.

E.g. link_to(url, url)

may cause problems with character entities if url contains ampersands.

===== Correct usage

link_to(h(url), url)

This applies to all dynamic content.

Expression

r13 · Mar 19, 20092 thanks

You can put some expression too. For example for I18n (using haml on view):

some_locale.yml

links:
contacts: "My contacts"

index.html.haml

= link_to "#{t "links.contacts"}", :action => 'contacts'

:method => :delete, etc.

wiseleyb · Mar 7, 20111 thank

If you're upgrading to Rails 3 you'll need to make sure you include rails.js (which is in public/javascripts when you rails new someproject) You'll need to include it after prototype. And you'll need to have a 1.7 version of prototype.

When you do a link_to "Delete", @some_obj, :method => "delete", :confirm => "Are you sure?"

Rails 3 will generate Delete

rails.js will creates observers that convert that into a form.

Be aware that this probably won't work as a link from inside a form (since forms in forms isn't valid).

Text and Image together in #link_to

ShrutiGupta · Sep 3, 20151 thank

Code Example

link_to "Hello World #{ image_tag('web/worl.png') }".html_safe, some_path

:popup gotcha in IE

bquorning · Sep 7, 2009

If your popup title contains spaces or escaped HTML characters, Internet Explorer (at least 6/7) will not pop up a new window but open the link in the existing browser window.

logic in class/id

Graffzon · Nov 10, 2011

If you need to place some simple logic in class or like that, I think that best to make it with simple brackets:

====Code example

<%= link_to 'All actions', switch_action_tab_path, :remote => true, :class => ('selected' if @tab == 'all') %>

link_to with :as routing

danwich · Jan 16, 2012

The following will not work when your post model is routed with the :as option: link_to("View post", @post) Instead, use the helper with your custom name: link_to("View post", :url => renamedpost_path(@post))