Document: caretPositionFromPoint() method

The caretPositionFromPoint() method of the Document interface returns a CaretPosition object, containing the DOM node, along with the caret and caret's character offset within that node.

Syntax

caretPositionFromPoint(x, y)

Parameters

x: The horizontal coordinate of a point.
y: The vertical coordinate of a point.

Return value

A CaretPosition object.

Examples

Click anywhere in the Demo paragraph below to insert a line break at the point where you click. The code for it is below the demo.

Demo

The code below first checks for document.caretPositionFromPoint support, but if the browser doesn't support that, the code then checks for document.caretRangeFromPoint, and uses that instead.

JavaScript

function insertBreakAtPoint(e) {
  let range;
  let textNode;
  let offset;

  if (document.caretPositionFromPoint) {
    range = document.caretPositionFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
    textNode = range.offsetNode;
    offset = range.offset;
  } else if (document.caretRangeFromPoint) {
    // Use WebKit-proprietary fallback method
    range = document.caretRangeFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
    textNode = range.startContainer;
    offset = range.startOffset;
  } else {
    // Neither method is supported, do nothing
    return;
  }
  // Only split TEXT_NODEs
  if (textNode?.nodeType === 3) {
    let replacement = textNode.splitText(offset);
    let br = document.createElement("br");
    textNode.parentNode.insertBefore(br, replacement);
  }
}

let paragraphs = document.getElementsByTagName("p");
for (const paragraph of paragraphs) {
  paragraph.addEventListener("click", insertBreakAtPoint, false);
}

let message = document.getElementById("message");
if (document.caretPositionFromPoint) {
  message.textContent =
    "This browser supports the standard document.caretPositionFromPoint";
  message.classList.add("supported");
} else if (document.caretRangeFromPoint) {
  message.textContent =
    "This browser supports the non-standard document.caretRangeFromPoint";
  message.classList.add("supported");
}

HTML

<div id="message">
  This browser supports neither document.caretRangeFromPoint nor
  document.caretPositionFromPoint
</div>

html

<p>
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy
  eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam
  voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita
  kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
</p>

#message {
  color: red;
  font-weight: bold;
}

#message.fallback {
  color: darkorange;
}

#message.supported {
  color: green;
}

Specifications

Specification
CSSOM View Module # dom-document-caretpositionfrompoint

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser