HTMLTextAreaElement: minLength property

{{ApiRef("HTML DOM")}}

The minLength property of the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement")}} interface indicates the minimum number of characters (in {{glossary("UTF-16", "UTF-16 code units")}}) required for the value of the {{HTMLElement("textarea")}} element to be valid. It reflects the element's minlength attribute. -1 means there is no minimum length requirement.

[!NOTE] If the textarea has a value, and that value has fewer characters than the minlength attribute requires, the element is considered invalid and the {{domxref("ValidityState")}} object's {{domxref("ValidityState.tooShort", "tooShort")}} property will be true.

Value

A number representing the element's minlength if present or -1.

Example

Given the following HTML:

<p>
  <label for="comment">Comment</label>
  <textarea id="comment" minlength="10" maxlength="200"></textarea>
</p>

You can use the minLength property to retrieve or set the <textarea>'s minlength attribute value:

const textareaElement = document.querySelector("#comment");
console.log(`Element's minLength: ${textareaElement.minLength}`); // "Element's minlength: 10"
textareaElement.minLength = 5; // updates the element's minlength attribute value

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.value")}}
• {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.maxLength")}}
• {{domxref("ValidityState.tooShort")}}