AbortController: abort() method

The abort() method of the AbortController interface aborts a DOM request before it has completed. This is able to abort fetch requests, the consumption of any response bodies, or streams.

Syntax

js

abort()
abort(reason)

Parameters

reason Optional

The reason why the operation was aborted, which can be any JavaScript value. If not specified, the reason is set to "AbortError" DOMException.

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

In the following snippet, we aim to download a video using the Fetch API.

We first create a controller using the AbortController() constructor, then grab a reference to its associated AbortSignal object using the AbortController.signal property.

When the fetch request is initiated, we pass in the AbortSignal as an option inside the request's options object (the {signal} below). This associates the signal and controller with the fetch request and allows us to abort it by calling AbortController.abort(), as seen below in the second event listener.

js

const controller = new AbortController();
const signal = controller.signal;

const url = "video.mp4";
const downloadBtn = document.querySelector(".download");
const abortBtn = document.querySelector(".abort");

downloadBtn.addEventListener("click", fetchVideo);

abortBtn.addEventListener("click", () => {
  controller.abort();
  console.log("Download aborted");
});

function fetchVideo() {
  fetch(url, { signal })
    .then((response) => {
      console.log("Download complete", response);
    })
    .catch((err) => {
      console.error(`Download error: ${err.message}`);
    });
}

Note: When abort() is called, the fetch() promise rejects with an Error of type DOMException, with name AbortError.

You can find a full working example on GitHub; you can also see it running live.

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard
# ref-for-dom-abortcontroller-abortcontroller①

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also