HTMLTextAreaElement: selectionchange event

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The selectionchange event of the Selection API is fired when the text selection within an <textarea> element is changed. This includes both changes in the selected range of characters, or if the caret moves.

This event is not cancelable.

The event is usually processed by adding an event listener on the <textarea>, and in the handler function read by the HTMLTextAreaElement selectionStart, selectionEnd and selectionDirection properties.

It is also possible to add a listener on the global onselectionchange event handler, and within the handler function use Document.getSelection() to get the Selection. However this is not very useful for getting changes to text selections.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

addEventListener("selectionchange", (event) => {});

onselectionchange = (event) => {};

<div>
  Enter and select text here:<br /><textarea
    id="my-text"
    rows="2"
    cols="20"></textarea>
</div>
<div>selectionStart: <span id="start"></span></div>
<div>selectionEnd: <span id="end"></span></div>
<div>selectionDirection: <span id="direction"></span></div>

JavaScript

const myInput = document.getElementById("my-text");

myInput.addEventListener("selectionchange", () => {
  document.getElementById("start").textContent = myInput.selectionStart;
  document.getElementById("end").textContent = myInput.selectionEnd;
  document.getElementById("direction").textContent = myInput.selectionDirection;
});

Result

Specifications

Specification
Selection API # selectionchange-event
Selection API # dom-globaleventhandlers-onselectionchange

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser