Web/API/DocumentOrShadowRoot/caretPositionFromPoint

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

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

Syntax

var caretPosition = document.caretPositionFromPoint(float x, float y);

Parameters

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

Returns

A CaretPosition object.

Example

This example inserts line breaks wherever you click. The code for it is below the demo.

Demo

HTML Content

<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>

JavaScript Content

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

  if (document.caretPositionFromPoint) {
    range = document.caretPositionFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
    textNode = range.offsetNode;
    offset = range.offset;
  } else if (document.caretRangeFromPoint) {
    range = document.caretRangeFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
    textNode = range.startContainer;
    offset = range.startOffset;
  }

  // only split TEXT_NODEs
  if (textNode.nodeType == 3) {
    var replacement = textNode.splitText(offset);
    var br = document.createElement('br');
    textNode.parentNode.insertBefore(br, replacement);
  }
}

window.onload = function (){
  var paragraphs = document.getElementsByTagName("p");
  for (i=0 ; i < paragraphs.length; i++) {
    paragraphs[i].addEventListener("click", insertBreakAtPoint, false);
  }
};

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View ModuleThe definition of 'caretPositionFromPoint()' 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
`caretPositionFromPoint` Experimental'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 20	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 20	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

DocumentOrShadowRoot.caretPositionFromPoint() by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.