SVGPathElement: getPointAtLength() method

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The getPointAtLength() method of the SVGPathElement interface returns the point at a given distance along the path.

Syntax

js
getPointAtLength(distance)

Parameters

distance

A number indicating the distance along the path

Return value

A DOMPoint indicating the point at a given distance along the path.

Examples

Getting the midpoint of a <path>

In this example, we determine the midpoint of a path by getting the point that is half way along the length of the path.

We define an SVG that includes two paths: a basic line and a complex heart shape.

The path that creates the heart is approximately 275 units long.

html
<svg width="200" height="100">
  <path
    id="heart"
    fill="red"
    d="M 10,30
           A 20,20 0,0,1 50,30
           A 20,20 0,0,1 90,30
           Q 90,60 50,90
           Q 10,60 10,30 z" />
  <path id="line" d="M 0,30 h100" stroke="black" />
</svg>

The line is horizontal, starting at 0, 30 and is 100 units long. The path of the heart starts at 10, 30 and is approximately 275 units long.

We know the length of the line is 100 units, and hence that 50 is the mid point. We use the SVGPathElement.getTotalLength() method to get the length of the heart's path, dividing it by 2 to get the mid-point distance. We then use the getPointAtLength() method to return the mid point as a DOMPoint. We display the x and y coordinates for each mid point.

js
const basicPath = document.getElementById("line");
const complexPath = document.getElementById("heart");

// Get the length of the heart and divide by 2
const halfLength = complexPath.getTotalLength() / 2;

// Access the getPointAtLength property
const basicMidPoint = basicPath.getPointAtLength(50);
const complexMidPoint = complexPath.getPointAtLength(halfLength);

// The base value of the pathLength attribute
log(`Line mid point: ${basicMidPoint.x}, ${basicMidPoint.y}`);
log(`Heart mid point: ${complexMidPoint.x}, ${complexMidPoint.y}`);

Specifications

Specification
SVG Paths
# __svg__SVGPathElement__getPointAtLength

Browser compatibility

See also