Web/API/Text/splitText

The Text.splitText() method breaks the Text node into two nodes at the specified offset, keeping both nodes in the tree as siblings.

After the split, the current node contains all the content up to the specified offset point, and a newly created node of the same type contains the remaining text. The newly created node is returned to the caller. If the original node had a parent, the new node is inserted as the next sibling of the original node. If the offset is equal to the length of the original node, the newly created node has no data.

Separated text nodes can be concatenated using the Node.normalize() method.

Syntax

newNode = textNode.splitText(offset)

Parameters

offset: The index immediately before which to break the text node.

Return value

Returns a newly created Text node that contains the text after the specified offset point.

Exceptions thrown

A DOMException with a value of INDEX_SIZE_ERR is thrown if the specified offset is negative or is greater than the number of 16-bit units in the node's text; a DOMException with a value of NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR is thrown if the node is read-only.

Example

In this example, the text of a <p> is split into two text nodes, and a <u> is inserted between them.

HTML

<p>foobar</p>

JavaScript

const p = document.querySelector('p');

// Get contents of <p> as a text node
const foobar = p.firstChild;

// Split 'foobar' into two text nodes, 'foo' and 'bar',
// and save 'bar' as a const
const bar = foobar.splitText(3);

// Create a <u> element containing ' new content '
const u = document.createElement('u');
u.appendChild(document.createTextNode(' new content '));

// Add <u> before 'bar'
p.insertBefore(u, bar);

// The result is: <p>foo<u> new content </u>bar</p>

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
DOMThe definition of 'Text.splitText' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Text.splitText' in that specification.	Obsolete	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Text.splitText' in that specification.	Obsolete	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 SpecificationThe definition of 'Text.splitText' in that specification.	Obsolete	Initial definition.

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
`splitText`	Chrome Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Before Chrome 30, the `offset` argument was optional.	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support Yes	Opera Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' Before Opera 17, the `offset` argument was optional.	Safari Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The `offset` argument is optional.	WebView Android Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' Before version 4.4, the `offset` argument was optional.	Chrome Android Full support 18 Notes' Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Before Chrome 30, the `offset` argument was optional.	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' Before Opera 17, the `offset` argument was optional.	Safari iOS Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The `offset` argument is optional.	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 Notes' Full support 1.0 Notes' Notes' Before Samsung Internet 2.0, the `offset` argument was optional.

Legend

Full support: Full support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.