Web/API/Selection/toString

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

The Selection.toString() method returns a string currently being represented by the selection object, i.e. the currently selected text.

Syntax

sel.toString()

Return value

A string representing the selection.

Description

This method returns the currently selected text.

In JavaScript, this method is called automatically when a function the selection object is passed to requires a string:

alert(window.getSelection()) // What is called
alert(window.getSelection().toString())  // What is actually being effectively called.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Selection APIThe definition of 'Selection: toString()' in that specification.	Working Draft	Current

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

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
toString Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support ≤18	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support  

Full support

Compatibility unknown  

Compatibility unknown

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See also

• Selection, the interface it belongs to.

Selection.toString() by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.