Web/API/Selection API

The Selection API provides functionality for reading and manipulating the range of text selected by the user.

Concepts and usage

To retrieve the current text range the user has selected, you can use the Window.getSelection() or Document.getSelection() method, storing the return value — a Selection object — in a variable for futher use.

Once your selection is in a variable, you perform a variety of operations on it, for example copying the selection to a text string using Selection.toString(), adding a range (as represented by a standard Range object) to the selection (or removing one) with Selection.addRange()/Selection.removeRange(), or changing the selection to be the entire contents of a DOM node using Selection.selectAllChildren().

You can run code in response to the selection being changed, or a new selection being started, using the GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange and GlobalEventHandlers.onselectstart event handlers.

Selection API interfaces

Selection

Represents the range of text selected by the user or the current position of the caret.

Extensions to other interfaces

Window.getSelection(), Document.getSelection()

Returns a Selection object representing the range of text selected by the user or the current position of the caret. Document.getSelection() is basically an alias of Window.getSelection().

GlobalEventHandlers.onselectstart

Represents the event handler that is called when a selectstart event is fired on the current object (i.e. when a new range of text is about to be selected by the user).

GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange

Represents the event handler that is called when a selectionchange event is fired on the current object (i.e. when the selected text range changes).

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Selection APIThe definition of 'Selection' in that specification.	Working Draft	The Selection API specification is based on the HTML Editing APIs specification and focuses on the Selection-related functionality.
HTML Editing APIsThe definition of 'Selection' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Initial (older) definition, which is now outdated.

Browser compatibility

Selection

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
Selection Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' The GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange and GlobalEventHandlers.onselectstart event handlers are supported as of Firefox 52.	IE Full support 9	Opera Full support 9	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' The GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange and GlobalEventHandlers.onselectstart event handlers are supported as of Firefox 52.	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
addRange Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
anchorNode Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
anchorOffset Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
collapse Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 9	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
collapseToEnd Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
collapseToStart Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
containsNode Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Before Firefox 35, the method didn't throw if node was null.	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Before Firefox 35, the method didn't throw if node was null.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
deleteFromDocument Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 55	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 55	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
empty() as alias of removeAllRanges() Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 55	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 55	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
extend Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
focusNode Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.6	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 5.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
focusOffset Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
getRangeAt Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
isCollapsed Experimental'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
modify Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 4	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
rangeCount Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	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 Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
removeAllRanges Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	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 Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
removeRange Experimental'	Chrome Full support 58	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support 45	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 58	Chrome Android Full support 58	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support 43	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
selectAllChildren Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	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 Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
setBaseAndExtent Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 53	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 53	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
setPosition() as alias of collapse() Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 55	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 55	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
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
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

No support  

No support

Compatibility unknown  

Compatibility unknown

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.'

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

See also

• Key quote generator: A simple demo showing typical usage of the Selection API to capture the current selection at any point and copy selections into a list (see it live also).
• The Range object.

Selection API by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.