Why the underscore in (target="_blank")

[EnricTellez]

Whenever I inspect a link on a website that has "target blank" it has this (_) underscore in it as well. Why is this?
I've noticed that it also works if you don't put it in there, so why is it there?

Thanks in advance for the answers!!!

 

[skullofskill]

Hi there EnricTellez, The underscore is to certify that the correct "target" name is being used, since there are four values (_blank, _top, _self, and _top) to choose from.
If you use target="_blank", be sure to add rel="noopener noreferrer" to avoid phishing attacks. It's so under used that I actually need to fix a lot on my own sites. :chair:


Basically, the conflict happens because 'frame' can use the name 'blank', and the 'target' value can be the name of a 'frame'. The underscore is what is used to disambiguate the two values to have no conflicts.