Selection API

{{DefaultAPISidebar("Selection API")}}

[!NOTE] This API is not available in Web Workers (not exposed via {{domxref("WorkerNavigator")}}).

The Selection API enables developers to access and manipulate the portion of a document selected by the user.

The {{domxref("Window/getSelection()", "Window.getSelection()")}} and {{domxref("Document/getSelection()", "Document.getSelection()")}} methods return a {{domxref("Selection")}} object representing the portion of the document selected by the user. A Selection object provides methods to:

• access the currently selected nodes
• modify the current selection, expanding or collapsing it or selecting an entirely different part of the document
• delete parts of the current selection from the DOM.

The Selection API also provides two events, both firing on {{domxref("Document")}}:

• the {{domxref("Node/selectstart_event", "selectstart")}} event is fired when the user starts to make a new selection
• the {{domxref("Document/selectionchange_event", "selectionchange")}} event is fired when the current selection changes.

Interfaces

• {{domxref("Selection")}}
  • : An interface which represents the part of the document selected by the user or the current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Document/getSelection()", "Document.getSelection()")}}
  • : A method returning a Selection object representing the current selection or current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Window/getSelection()", "Window.getSelection()")}}
  • : A method returning a Selection object representing the current selection or current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Document/selectionchange_event", "Document.selectionchange")}}
  • : An event which is fired when the current selection is changed.
• {{domxref("Node/selectstart_event", "Node.selectstart")}}
  • : An event which is fired when a user starts a new selection.

Specifications

{{Specifications}}