Web/API/Selection/type

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

The type read-only property of the Selection interface returns a DOMString describing the type of the current selection.

Syntax

value = sel.type

Value

A DOMString describing the type of the current selection. Possible values are:

None: No selection has currently been made.
Caret: The selection is collapsed (i.e. the caret is placed on some text, but no range has been selected).
Range: A range has been selected.

Example

In this example, the event handler will fire each time a new selection is made. console.log(selection.type) will return Caret or Range depending on whether the caret is placed at a single point in the text, or a range has been selected.

var selection;

document.onselectionchange = function() {
  console.log('New selection made');
  selection = document.getSelection();
  console.log(selection.type);
};

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Selection APIThe definition of 'Selection.type' in that specification.	Working Draft	Current

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
`type` Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 57	IE Full support Yes	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 57	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.