Web/API/Clipboard/readText

The Clipboard interface's readText() method returns a Promise which resolves with a copy of the textual contents of the system clipboard.. The "clipboard-read" permission of the Permissions API must be granted before you can read data from the clipboard.

Syntax

var promise = navigator.clipboard.readText()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A Promise that resolves with a DOMString containing the textual contents of the clipboard. Returns an empty string if the clipboard is empty, does not contain text, or does not include a textual representation among the DataTransfer objects representing the clipboard's contents.

To read non-text contents from the clipboard, use the read() method instead. You can write text to the clipboard using writeText().

Example

This example retrieves the textual contents of the clipboard and inserts the returned text into an element's contents.

navigator.clipboard.readText().then(
  clipText => document.getElementById("outbox").innerText = clipText);

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Clipboard API and eventsThe definition of 'readText()' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`readText`	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 63 Notes' Full support 63 Notes' Notes' Firefox only supports reading the clipboard in browser extensions, using the `"clipboardRead"` extension permission.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 53	Safari Full support 13.1	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android Full support 63 Notes' Full support 63 Notes' Notes' Firefox only supports reading the clipboard in browser extensions, using the `"clipboardRead"` extension permission.	Opera Android Full support 47	Safari iOS Full support 13.4	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.