Angular routerLink is appending the route-outlet insteading of replacing

In Angular, the routerLink directive is used to navigate between different routes in your application. By default, when you click on a link with routerLink, the route will be rendered inside the <router-outlet></router-outlet> element, replacing the content of the current route.

If the routerLink is appending the route instead of replacing it, there are a few possible reasons and solutions:

1. Nested Routes and Parent Route URL: Check if you have nested routes and whether you are using relative URLs in your routerLink. When using relative URLs, the current route's URL will be appended to the routerLink, resulting in the behavior you described.

   To avoid this, use absolute URLs in your routerLink by starting the link with a / to navigate from the root level.

   For example, instead of this:

   htmlCopy code
   <!-- Incorrect: Using relative URL -->
   <a routerLink="child">Go to Child Route</a>
   

   Use this:

   htmlCopy code
   <!-- Correct: Using absolute URL -->
   <a routerLink="/child">Go to Child Route</a>
   

2. Using routerLinkActive Directive: If you are using the routerLinkActive directive to highlight active links, it might be causing confusion. When navigating between routes, Angular will apply the active class to both the parent and child route's links if they share the same URL segment.

   To ensure that only the active link for the current route is highlighted, use the routerLinkActiveOptions property to specify that exact: true.

   For example:

   htmlCopy code
   <a routerLink="/child" routerLinkActive="active" [routerLinkActiveOptions]="{ exact: true }">Go to Child Route</a>
   

3. Incorrect Route Configuration: Double-check your route configuration in your AppRoutingModule (or wherever you define your routes). Ensure that you don't have any overlapping routes or incorrect configuration that could cause unexpected behavior.

   For example, make sure you don't have multiple routes with the same path or routes with empty paths.

4. Angular Version and Router Behavior: Sometimes, certain issues might be related to specific versions of Angular or the router. Ensure that you are using the latest version of Angular and the Angular router to take advantage of bug fixes and improvements.

By verifying these aspects of your application, you should be able to resolve the issue where the routerLink is appending the route instead of replacing it when navigating between routes.