Selection: toString() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since March 2017.

The Selection.toString() method returns a string currently being represented by the selection object, i.e. the currently selected text.

Syntax

js
toString()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A string representing the selection.

Description

This method returns the currently selected text.

In JavaScript, this method is called automatically when a function the selection object is passed to requires a string:

js
alert(window.getSelection()); // What is called
alert(window.getSelection().toString()); // What is actually being effectively called.

Specifications

Specification
Selection API
# dom-selection-stringifier

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
toString

Legend

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Full support
Full support

See also