# Back/Forward Navigation Fails After Using Encoded Backslash (%5C) in Page URL

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-forward-navigation-fails-after-using-encoded-backslash-5c-in-page-url/106447>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** perspective, ignition81\
**Created:** [May 20, 2025, 10:33am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-forward-navigation-fails-after-using-encoded-backslash-5c-in-page-url/106447 "2025-05-20T10:33:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ujwal\_Wankhede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Ujwal\_Wankhede](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Ujwal_Wankhede)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 10:33am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-forward-navigation-fails-after-using-encoded-backslash-5c-in-page-url/106447/1 "2025-05-20T10:33:52Z")

</div>

I'm working on passing both the view path and view parameters through the page URL in Perspective. The configured page URL is:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/3/3/335106f12b6485523b864e310e7ec665570cfa4f.png)  
`viewPath` is the target view path, such as `"Group/ViewA"` or `"Group/ViewB"`  
`viewParam` is a string separated by backslashes (`\`), for example: `enterprise\site\area`

Because `/` and `\` are not safe characters in a URL path, I encode them as:  
`/` → `%2F` and `\` → `%5C`

After the encoding the code

```python
system.perspective.navigate(page="/group/Group%2FViewA/enterprise%5Csite%5Carea")
system.perspective.navigate(page="/group/Group%2FViewB/enterprise%5Csite%5Carea")

```

These commands correctly load the target views when triggered from a button event.

### The Issue:

After navigating to ViewA or ViewB using the above commands, the **Back/Forward browser navigation no longer works as expected**.  
I observed :

- After loading ViewA, the URL becomes:  
`/data/perspective/client/PageNavigationTest/group/Group%2FViewA/enterprise/site/area`
- After loading ViewB, it becomes:  
`/data/perspective/client/PageNavigationTest/group/Group%2FViewB/enterprise/site/area`

In both cases, the `%5C` (encoded backslash) is replaced with a forward slash (`/`), while the `%2F` (encoded forward slash) remains intact.

As a result, the page parameters are no longer passed correctly, and returning to a previously visited view via Back/Forward doesn't reload the correct state.

### My Question:

Why is the encoded backslash `%5C` being interpreted or converted as a forward slash (`/`) after navigation? Is this expected behavior from the browser or something specific to Ignition Perspective’s handling of URL history?

I've attached a small test project to demonstrate the issue. Any insights or workarounds would be appreciated.  
[PageNavigationTest.zip](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/uploads/short-url/cRQOwNnImlSHM8i91D0UlDlk7mt.zip) (24.3 KB)