Web/API/HTMLInputElement/setRangeText

The HTMLInputElement.setRangeText() method replaces a range of text in an <input> or <textarea> element with a new string.

Syntax

element.setRangeText(replacement);
element.setRangeText(replacement, start, end [, selectMode]);

replacement: The string to insert.
start Optional: The 0-based index of the first character to replace. Defaults to the current selectionStart value (the start of the user's current selection).
end Optional: The 0-based index of the character after the last character to replace. Defaults to the current selectionEnd value (the end of the user's current selection).
selectMode Optional: A string defining how the selection should be set after the text has been replaced. Possible values:

"select" selects the newly inserted text. "start"moves the selection to just before the inserted text. "end" moves the selection to just after the inserted text. "preserve" attempts to preserve the selection. This is the default.

Click the button in this example to replace part of the text in the text box. The newly inserted text will be highlighted (selected) afterwards.

<input type="text" id="text-box" size="30" value="This text has NOT been updated.">
<button onclick="selectText()">Update text</button>

function selectText() {
  const input = document.getElementById('text-box');
  input.focus();  
  input.setRangeText('ALREADY', 14, 17, 'select');
}

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change
HTML5The definition of 'HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

	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
`setRangeText`	Chrome Full support 24	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 27	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 6.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5