files/en-us/web/api/canvasrenderingcontext2d/gettransform/index.md
{{APIRef("Canvas API")}}
The CanvasRenderingContext2D.getTransform() method of the Canvas 2D API retrieves the current transformation matrix being applied to the context.
getTransform()
None.
A {{domxref("DOMMatrix")}} object.
The transformation matrix is described by:
<!-- prettier-ignore-start --> <math display="block"> <semantics><mrow><mo>[</mo><mtable columnalign="center center center" rowspacing="0.5ex"><mtr><mtd><mi>a</mi></mtd><mtd><mi>c</mi></mtd><mtd><mi>e</mi></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mi>b</mi></mtd><mtd><mi>d</mi></mtd><mtd><mi>f</mi></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>1</mn></mtd></mtr></mtable><mo>]</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="TeX">\left[ \begin{array}{ccc} a & c & e \\ b & d & f \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right]</annotation></semantics> </math> <!-- prettier-ignore-end -->[!NOTE] The returned object is not live, so updating it will not affect the current transformation matrix, and updating the current transformation matrix will not affect an already returned
DOMMatrix.
In the following example, we have two {{htmlelement("canvas")}} elements. We apply a
transform to the first one's context using
{{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D.setTransform()")}} and draw a square on it, then
retrieve the matrix from it using getTransform().
We then apply the retrieved matrix directly to the second canvas context by passing the
DOMMatrix object directly to setTransform(), and draw a circle
on it.
<canvas width="240"></canvas> <canvas width="240"></canvas>
canvas {
border: 1px solid black;
}
const canvases = document.querySelectorAll("canvas");
const ctx1 = canvases[0].getContext("2d");
const ctx2 = canvases[1].getContext("2d");
ctx1.setTransform(1, 0.2, 0.8, 1, 0, 0);
ctx1.fillRect(25, 25, 50, 50);
let storedTransform = ctx1.getTransform();
console.log(storedTransform);
ctx2.setTransform(storedTransform);
ctx2.beginPath();
ctx2.arc(50, 50, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
ctx2.fill();
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