Firefox still predicts a .net url when putting an apostrophe before a word in the urlbar.
Current Version: Firefox 59.0.2
I had been using the solution provided by https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1212735 for a while, but now I've had a case where in spite of putting an apostrophe before a search term, Firefox still predicted a url and added www. and .net to the search term, leading to a nonexistent website instead of searching. This is, once again, ignoring browser.fixup.alternate.enabled.
Modified by randomanon
Chosen solution
The response was helpful, here is some more info: I attempted to replicate the problem I had using " 'example " (without quotes and spaces) in the address bar, this time it searched successfully, instead of adding .net and going to a nonexistent website.
I'm going to mark this as solved, since I don't seem able to replicate the problem. If I find a way to replicate the problem, I'll post a new question linking back to this one.
Additional Notes: The search term did not have a . in it, the . was added as part of Firefox doing fixup. I tried to upload a video of me trying to replicate the issue, but it seems only images are supported. keyword.enabled is set to true, the browser can search in most cases.
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What does your URL bar drop-down show that Firefox plans to do with your query? For example:
<center>
</center>
Does this one example behave differently from the others? Does search still work for strings that do not "look like" a domain name?
The URL bar does not show a drop down. As for strings that may look like a domain name, I'm not sure what are the criteria for what Firefox considers a possible domain to add .net to.
Other Information: browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled is set to false. browser.urlbar.suggest.bookmark is set to false. browser.urlbar.suggest.history is set to false. browser.urlbar.suggest.openpage is set to false. browser.urlbar.suggest.searches is set to false.
Unfortunately, the address bar does not work normally when you totally disable autocomplete. Can you enable at least one category and test again?
What I meant by looking like a domain name was the third one on this list:
- blah => single word, no dot, goes to search engine
- blah blah.blah => multiple words with at least one space, goes to search engine whether there is a dot or not
- blah.blah => words with no spaces and at least one dot, goes to DNS resolution
- adding a character that is illegal in a domain at the beginning such as ' or " will cause Firefox to send it to search instead
If your Firefox never searches in any case, check:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste keyw and pause while the list is filtered
(3) If the keyword.enabled preference is bolded and "modified" or "user set" to false, double-click it to restore the default value of true
If the preference has a status of locked then an Autoconfig file or IT department policy is overriding the normal behavior.
Chosen Solution
The response was helpful, here is some more info: I attempted to replicate the problem I had using " 'example " (without quotes and spaces) in the address bar, this time it searched successfully, instead of adding .net and going to a nonexistent website.
I'm going to mark this as solved, since I don't seem able to replicate the problem. If I find a way to replicate the problem, I'll post a new question linking back to this one.
Additional Notes: The search term did not have a . in it, the . was added as part of Firefox doing fixup. I tried to upload a video of me trying to replicate the issue, but it seems only images are supported. keyword.enabled is set to true, the browser can search in most cases.
randomanon said
The search term did not have a . in it, the . was added as part of Firefox doing fixup.
Usually fix-up adds .com, so it's strange that you got .net, unless that is what's listed for fixup in about:config.
Search should always be tried before fixup if search is enabled, especially if there's no dot in the text to suggest to Firefox that it's a domain name.
I guess there is another setting you should double-check:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste fix and pause while the list is filtered
(3) If the browser.fixup.dns_first_for_single_words preference is bolded and "modified" or "user set" to true, double-click it to restore the default value of false