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samthecodingman/bookmarklet-gcache.js

Last active July 28, 2024 06:06
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Reload the current page using Google's Web Cache [Javascript Bookmarklet] [CC-BY License]
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bookmarklet-gcache.js
javascript:(window.location.href.indexOf("webcache.googleusercontent.com")>-1)?alert("Error:%20You%20are%20on%20the%20cached%20version."):window.location.assign("http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:"+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href.replace(/(^\w+:|^)\/\//,'')));
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Google Web Cache Bookmarklet

How to use

To use this bookmarklet, add it as a Bookmark to your favourites bar of your browser under the 'URL' or 'Location' field. When clicked, the Javascript function will run and reload the page from Google's Web Cache. If a page is not cached by Google (usually because of a robots.txt file), you will get a 404 error.

Why use a bookmarklet?

Well, in comparison to a full plugin, a bookmarklet consists of a small amount of text that just performs the function you need. It may not be as pretty as a plugin, but it doesn't require updating, doesn't have version incompatibilities and most importantly won't actually read any of the page's contents. So there is zero snooping/logging/tracking risk.

How it works

On the surface...
The bookmarklet is actually quite primitive and simplistic, consisting of some simple error checking using the ternary operator:

isThisTheGoogleCache() ? isSoShowErrorMsg() : notSoLoadGoogleCache()

A more in depth look...
Using that analogy, isThisTheGoogleCache() checks if the current page is from the Google Web Cache by searching for the substring "webcache.googleusercontent.com" in the page URL.

window.location.href.indexOf("webcache.googleusercontent.com")>-1

When that check is true, an error is thrown in the form of a warning dialog.

alert("Error:%20You%20are%20on%20the%20cached%20version.")

If the page isn't from the Web Cache, the URL scheme (usually http://, https:// or '//') is removed from the current URL, encoded and then passed to the Google Web Cache.

window.location.assign("http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:"+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href.replace(/(^\w+:|^)\/\//,'')));

Props to cachedview.me for pointing out that the URL scheme should be removed.

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