How to block users from closing a window in Javascript?

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Take a look at onBeforeUnload.

It wont force someone to stay but it will prompt them asking them whether they really want to leave, which is probably the best cross browser solution you can manage. (Similar to this site if you attempt to leave mid-answer.)

<script language="JavaScript">
    window.onbeforeunload = confirmExit;
    function confirmExit() {
        return "You have attempted to leave this page. Are you sure?";
    }
</script>

Edit: Most browsers no longer allow a custom message for onbeforeunload.

See this bug report from the 18th of February, 2016.

onbeforeunload dialogs are used for two things on the Modern Web:

  1. Preventing users from inadvertently losing data.
  2. Scamming users.

In an attempt to restrict their use for the latter while not stopping the former, we are going to not display the string provided by the webpage. Instead, we are going to use a generic string.

Firefox already does this[…]

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