Document: getSelection() method

{{APIRef("DOM")}}

The getSelection() method of the {{domxref("Document")}} interface returns the {{domxref("Selection")}} object associated with this document, representing the range of text selected by the user, or the current position of the caret.

Syntax

getSelection()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A {{domxref("Selection")}} object, or null if the document has no browsing context (for example, it is the document of an {{htmlelement("iframe")}} that is not attached to a document).

Usage notes

You can call {{domxref("Window.getSelection()")}}, which is identical to window.document.getSelection().

Currently, getSelection() doesn't work on the content of {{htmlelement("textarea")}} and {{htmlelement("input")}} elements in Firefox. {{domxref("HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()")}} or the selectionStart and selectionEnd properties could be used to work around this.

Notice also the difference between selection and focus. {{domxref("Document.activeElement")}} returns the focused element.

Examples

Getting a Selection object

const selection = document.getSelection();
const selRange = selection.getRangeAt(0);
// do stuff with the range

console.log(selection); // Selection object

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Selection API
• {{domxref("Selection")}}
• {{domxref("Range")}}
• {{domxref("Window.getSelection()")}}
• {{domxref("HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()")}}