JAVASCRIPT

Persist State to Local Storage with useLocalStorage

Create a custom `useLocalStorage` hook in React to automatically persist and retrieve component state from the browser's local storage.

import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error)
    {
      // If error, return initialValue
      console.error(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  // useEffect to update local storage when the state changes
  useEffect(() => {
    try {
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(storedValue));
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  }, [key, storedValue]); // Only re-run if key or storedValue changes

  return [storedValue, setStoredValue];
}

// Example Usage:
function LocalStorageCounter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useLocalStorage('my-counter-key', 0);

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>Increment</button>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count - 1)}>Decrement</button>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(0)}>Reset</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default LocalStorageCounter;
How it works: The `useLocalStorage` custom hook provides a convenient way to persist component state in the browser's `localStorage`. It initializes its state by attempting to retrieve a value from `localStorage` using a provided `key`, falling back to an `initialValue` if nothing is found or an error occurs. An `useEffect` hook then automatically updates `localStorage` whenever the `storedValue` changes, ensuring that the state is saved across page reloads. This encapsulates the logic for interacting with `localStorage` into a reusable, declarative pattern.

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