HTMLTextAreaElement: setSelectionRange() method

{{APIRef("HTML DOM")}}

The setSelectionRange() method of the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement")}} interface sets the start and end positions of the current text selection, and optionally the direction, in a {{HTMLElement("textarea")}} element. This updates the selection state immediately, though the visual highlight only appears when the element is focused. The direction indicates the in which selection should be considered to have occurred; for example, that the selection was set by the user clicking and dragging from the end of the selected text toward the beginning. In addition, the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.select_event", "select")}} and {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionchange_event", "selectionchange")}} events are fired.

This method updates the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionStart")}}, {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionEnd")}}, and {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionDirection")}} properties immediately, regardless of focus state. The visual selection highlight requires the element to be focused.

[!NOTE] While setSelectionRange() updates the selection properties immediately, the visual selection highlight only appears when the <textarea> is focused. Focusing the element will also fire a selectionchange event.

To select all of the text of an <textarea> element, use the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.select()")}} method.

Syntax

setSelectionRange(selectionStart, selectionEnd)
setSelectionRange(selectionStart, selectionEnd, selectionDirection)

Parameters

• selectionStart
  • : The index of the first selected character. An index greater than the length of the element's value is treated as pointing to the end of the value. See the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionStart", "selectionStart")}} property for more information.
• selectionEnd
  • : The index of the character after the last selected character. An index greater than the length of the element's value is treated as pointing to the end of the value. If selectionEnd is less than selectionStart, then both are treated as the value of selectionEnd. See the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionEnd", "selectionEnd")}} property for more information.
• selectionDirection {{optional_inline}}
  • : The keyword "forward", "backward", or the default "none" — indicating the direction in which the selection is considered to have been performed. See the {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionDirection", "selectionDirection")}} property for more information.

Return value

None ({{jsxref("undefined")}}).

Examples

const textarea = document.getElementById("text-box");
const chars = textarea.textLength;
// if the value is more than 10 characters long
if (chars > 10) {
  // Element must be focused to select a range of text within it
  textarea.focus();
  // select the text between the fifth character from the start and
  // the fifth character from the end
  textarea.setSelectionRange(5, chars - 5);
} else {
  // otherwise select all the text
  textarea.select();
}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• {{HTMLElement("textarea")}}
• {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement")}}
• {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.select()")}}
• {{domxref("HTMLTextAreaElement.textLength")}}
• {{domxref("Selection")}}
• {{cssxref("::selection")}} pseudo-element