files/en-us/web/api/svgmaskelement/maskcontentunits/index.md
{{APIRef("SVG")}}
The read-only maskContentUnits property of the {{domxref("SVGMaskElement")}} interface reflects the {{SVGAttr("maskContentUnits")}} attribute. It indicates which coordinate system to use for the contents of the {{SVGElement("mask")}} element.
[!NOTE] Although this property is read-only, it is merely a container for two values you can modify, {{domxref("SVGAnimatedEnumeration.baseVal", "baseVal")}} and {{domxref("SVGAnimatedEnumeration.animVal", "animVal")}}.
An {{domxref("SVGAnimatedEnumeration")}} representing the coordinate system. The possible values are defined in the {{domxref("SVGUnitTypes")}} interface:
0 (SVG_UNIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN)
1 (SVG_UNIT_TYPE_USERSPACEONUSE)
userSpaceOnUse for the {{SVGAttr("maskContentUnits")}} attribute and means that all coordinates inside the element refer to the user coordinate system as defined when the mask was created. It is the default value.2 (SVG_UNIT_TYPE_OBJECTBOUNDINGBOX)
objectBoundingBox for the attribute and means that all coordinates inside the element are relative to the bounding box of the element the mask is applied to. It means that the origin of the coordinate system is the top left corner of the object bounding box and the width and height of the object bounding box are considered to have a length of 1 unit value.html,
body,
svg {
height: 100%;
}
<div>
<svg
viewBox="0 0 100 100"
width="150"
height="150"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<mask id="mask1" maskContentUnits="userSpaceOnUse">
<rect fill="black" x="0" y="0" width="100%" height="100%" />
<circle fill="white" cx="50" cy="50" r="35" />
</mask>
<mask id="mask2" maskContentUnits="objectBoundingBox">
<rect fill="black" x="0" y="0" width="100%" height="100%" />
<circle fill="white" cx=".5" cy=".5" r=".35" />
<animate
attributeName="maskContentUnits"
values="objectBoundingBox;userSpaceOnUse"
dur="1s"
repeatCount="indefinite" />
</mask>
<!-- Some reference rect to materialized the mask -->
<rect id="r1" x="0" y="0" width="45" height="45" />
<rect id="r2" x="0" y="55" width="45" height="45" />
<rect id="r3" x="55" y="55" width="45" height="45" />
<rect id="r4" x="55" y="0" width="45" height="45" />
<!-- The first 3 rect are masked with useSpaceOnUse units -->
<use mask="url(#mask1)" href="#r1" fill="blue" />
<use mask="url(#mask1)" href="#r2" fill="yellow" />
<use mask="url(#mask1)" href="#r3" fill="green" />
<!-- The last rect is masked with objectBoundingBox units -->
<use mask="url(#mask2)" href="#r4" fill="lightblue" />
</svg>
</div>
<pre id="log"></pre>
const unitType = ["unknown", "userSpaceOnUse", "objectBoundingBox"];
const mask = document.getElementById("mask2");
const log = document.getElementById("log");
function displayLog() {
const baseValue = unitType[mask.maskContentUnits.baseVal];
const animValue = unitType[mask.maskContentUnits.animVal];
log.textContent = `The top-right 'maskContentUnits.baseVal' coord system : ${baseValue}\n`;
log.textContent += `The top-right 'maskContentUnits.animVal' coord system : ${animValue}`;
requestAnimationFrame(displayLog);
}
displayLog();
{{EmbedLiveSample("Examples", "280", "220")}}
{{Specifications}}
{{Compat}}