Document.queryCommandState()

The queryCommandState() method will tell you if the current selection has a certain Document.execCommand() command applied.

Syntax

queryCommandState(String command)

Parameters

command is a command from Document.execCommand()

Return value

queryCommandState() can return a Boolean value or null if the state is unknown.

Example

HTML

<div contenteditable="true">Select a part of this text!</div>
<button onclick="makeBold();">Test the state of the 'bold' command</button>

JavaScript

function makeBold() {
  var state = document.queryCommandState("bold");
  switch (state) {
    case true:
      alert("The bold formatting will be removed from the selected text.");
      break;
    case false:
      alert("The selected text will be displayed in bold.");
      break;
    case null:
      alert("The state of the 'bold' command is indeterminable.");
      break;
  }
  document.execCommand('bold');
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• HTMLElement.contentEditable
• document.designMode
• Rich-Text Editing in Mozilla
• Browser bugs related to queryCommandState(): Scribe's "Browser Inconsistencies" documentation