HTMLSelectElement: selectedOptions property

{{APIRef("HTML DOM")}}

The read-only {{domxref("HTMLSelectElement")}} property selectedOptions contains a list of the {{HTMLElement("option")}} elements contained within the {{HTMLElement("select")}} element that are currently selected. The list of selected options is an {{domxref("HTMLCollection")}} object with one entry per currently selected option.

An option is considered selected if it has an {{domxref("HTMLOptionElement.selected")}} attribute.

Value

An {{domxref("HTMLCollection")}} which lists every currently selected {{domxref("HTMLOptionElement")}} which is either a child of the {{domxref("HTMLSelectElement")}} or of an {{domxref("HTMLOptGroupElement")}} within the <select> element.

In other words, any option contained within the <select> element may be part of the results, but option groups are not included in the list.

If no options are currently selected, the collection is empty and returns a {{domxref("HTMLCollection.length", "length")}} of 0.

Examples

In this example, a {{HTMLElement("select")}} element with a number of options is used to let the user order various food items.

HTML

The HTML that creates the selection box and the {{HTMLElement("option")}} elements representing each of the food choices looks like this:

<label for="foods">What do you want to eat?</label>

<select id="foods" name="foods" size="7" multiple>
  <option value="1">Burrito</option>
  <option value="2">Cheeseburger</option>
  <option value="3">Double Bacon Burger Supreme</option>
  <option value="4">Pepperoni Pizza</option>
  <option value="5">Taco</option>
</select>


<button name="order" id="order">Order Now</button>
<p id="output"></p>

The <select> element is set to allow multiple items to be selected, and it is 7 rows tall. Note also the {{HTMLElement("button")}}, whose role it is to trigger fetching the {{domxref("HTMLCollection")}} of selected elements using the selected property.

JavaScript

The JavaScript code that establishes the event handler for the button, as well as the event handler itself, looks like this:

let orderButton = document.getElementById("order");
let itemList = document.getElementById("foods");
let outputBox = document.getElementById("output");

orderButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  let collection = itemList.selectedOptions;
  let output = "";

  for (let i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
    if (output === "") {
      output = "Your order for the following items has been placed: ";
    }
    output += collection[i].label;

    if (i === collection.length - 2 && collection.length < 3) {
      output += " and ";
    } else if (i < collection.length - 2) {
      output += ", ";
    } else if (i === collection.length - 2) {
      output += ", and ";
    }
  }

  if (output === "") {
    output = "You didn't order anything!";
  }

  outputBox.textContent = output;
});

This script sets up a {{domxref("Element/click_event", "click")}} event listener on the "Order Now" button. When clicked, the event handler fetches the list of selected options using selectedOptions, then iterates over the options in the list. A string is constructed to list the ordered items, with logic to build the list using proper English grammar rules (including a serial comma).

Result

The resulting content looks like this in action:

{{EmbedLiveSample("Examples", 600, 250)}}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Drop-down controls