Why does Angularjs default to # in the URL?

Question

I have a question and I would like to know why Angular uses # at the url?

Answer 1

To be able to have the operation of Single Page Application, because to use normal routes direct on / would need server configuration not to have refresh on the page, which is not always so simple. So by default it uses the #. But if you want you can configure to use the / through the Provider $locationProvider.html5Mode(true); in the .config() from your app and by tag <base href="/" />

Take a look at the documentation: https://docs.angularjs.org/guide/$Location

Answer 2

Hashbang, Hash, Junk, Sharp, Hashtag or simply # is who determines which page is being called, that means /#home and /index.html#homeare the same thing, since index is the main file of the application.

In other words it’s the file route.

/#home
/#sobre
/#contato

These routes are defined in your code. For example:

.when('/', {
  templateUrl : 'pages/home.html',
  controller  : 'HomeController'
})
.when('/sobre', {
  templateUrl : 'pages/sobre.html',
  controller  : 'SobreController'
})
.when('/contato', {
  templateUrl : 'pages/contato.html',
  controller  : 'ContatoController'
})

Answer 3

Probably because this link is to the page itself (see RFC3986), not causing the browser to exit the current page and load a new one.

This "address", which continues to be shown in the browser, is replaced by other actions through Javascript.