Web/API/HTMLelement/onpaste

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

The HTMLElement.onpaste property of the HTMLElement interface is an EventHandler that processes paste events.

The paste event fires when the user attempts to paste text.

Note that there is currently no DOM-only way to obtain the text being pasted; you'll have to use an nsIClipboard to get that information.

Syntax

target.onpaste = functionRef;

Value

functionRef is a function name or a function expression. The function receives a ClipboardEvent object as its sole argument.

Example

This example logs every copy and paste attempt to the <textarea>.

HTML

<h3>Play with this text area:</h3>
<textarea id="editor" rows="3">Try copying and pasting text into this field!</textarea>

<h3>Log:</h3>
<p id="log"></p>

JavaScript

function logCopy(event) {
  log.innerText = 'Copied!\n' + log.innerText;
}

function logPaste(event) {
  log.innerText = 'Pasted!\n' + log.innerText;
}

const editor = document.getElementById('editor');
const log = document.getElementById('log');

editor.oncopy = logCopy;
editor.onpaste = logPaste;

Result

Specification

WHATWG Standard

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
`onpaste` Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 71	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support 71	Chrome Android Full support 71	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 10.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

Since Firefox 13, the preference dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled controls this feature. It defaults to true but can be disabled.