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I have been pressing Ctrl or Shift while clicking refresh for so long out of habit that I am not even sure it has any effect in modern browsers.

In the past it was used to do a 'hard refresh' - i.e. not reloading anything from the cache.

Does this still apply? If so, is the effect it has still the same?

Gaff
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David
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2 Answers2

19

It does still work and helps bypass the cache - here's a break down of the shortcuts for the common browsers:

Internet Explorer

  • Ctrl + F5
  • Ctrl + click refresh button

Google Chrome

  • Ctrl + F5
  • Ctrl + click refresh button

Safari

  • Version 4 or newer: Shift + click refresh button
  • Version 3 or older: ⌘ + R

Firefox

  • Ctrl + Shift + R
  • Ctrl + F5 / ⌘ + F5
  • Shift + click refresh button

Opera

  • Ctrl + F5
  • Shift + F5
Gaff
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    There's no `Shift + R` shortcut in the Opera, at least in the latest versions and I doubt about `Shift + click refresh` button either. – Malcolm May 03 '11 at 16:46
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    Thanks @Malcolm - I'm not an Opera user so I couldn't confirm for sure. Please feel free to edit my answer if you know what the shortcut is on Opera. – Gaff May 04 '11 at 01:58
  • @Malcolm: Both `Ctrl + F5` and `Shift + F5` work for Opera since version 11.62 (see [changelog, under Network](http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/1162/) for details). – Amos M. Carpenter Feb 13 '14 at 03:11
  • @aaamos I left that comment long before the release of the version you mentioned. – Malcolm Feb 13 '14 at 18:51
3

Under Firefox 4, a normal refresh will generally reload basic content such as HTML as well as CSS and JavaScript. If you force a full refresh, the browser will reload all content, including images and all other objects, from the server.

bwDraco
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