Window: getSelection() method
The Window.getSelection()
method returns a
Selection
object representing the range of text selected by the user or
the current position of the caret.
Syntax
js
getSelection()
Parameters
None.
Return value
A Selection
object.
When cast to string, either by appending an empty string (""
) or using
Selection.toString()
, this object returns the text selected.
When called on an <iframe>
that is not displayed (e.g., where
display: none
is set) Firefox will return null
, whereas other
browsers will return a Selection
object with
Selection.type
set to None
.
Examples
js
function foo() {
const selObj = window.getSelection();
alert(selObj);
const selRange = selObj.getRangeAt(0);
// do stuff with the range
}
Notes
String representation of the Selection object
In JavaScript, when an object is passed to a function expecting a string (like window.alert()
or document.write()
), the object's
toString()
method is called and the returned value is
passed to the function. This can make the object appear to be a string when used with
other functions when it is really an object with properties and methods.
In the above example, selObj.toString()
is automatically called when it is
passed to window.alert()
. However, attempting to use a JavaScript String property
or method such as
length
or
substr
directly on a Selection
object will result in an error if it does not
have that property or method and may return unexpected results if it does. To use a
Selection
object as a string, call its toString()
method
directly:
js
const selectedText = selObj.toString();
selObj
is aSelection
object.selectedText
is a string (Selected text).
Related objects
You can call Document.getSelection()
, which works identically to
Window.getSelection()
.
It is worth noting that currently getSelection()
doesn't work on the
content of <textarea>
and <input>
elements in Firefox
and Edge (Legacy). HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()
or the selectionStart
and selectionEnd
properties could be
used to work around this.
Notice also the difference between selection and focus.
Document.activeElement
returns the focused element.
Specifications
Specification |
---|
Selection API # dom-window-getselection |
Browser compatibility
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