Element.scrollWidth

The Element.scrollWidth read-only property is a measurement of the width of an element's content, including content not visible on the screen due to overflow.

The scrollWidth value is equal to the minimum width the element would require in order to fit all the content in the viewport without using a horizontal scrollbar. The width is measured in the same way as clientWidth: it includes the element's padding, but not its border, margin or vertical scrollbar (if present). It can also include the width of pseudo-elements such as ::before or ::after. If the element's content can fit without a need for horizontal scrollbar, its scrollWidth is equal to clientWidth

This property will round the value to an integer. If you need a fractional value, use element.getBoundingClientRect().

Syntax

var xScrollWidth = element.scrollWidth;

xScrollWidth is the width of the content of element in pixels.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Example</title>
    <style>
        div {
            overflow: hidden;
            white-space: nowrap;
            text-overflow: ellipsis;
        }
        
        #aDiv {
            width: 100px;
        }
        
        button {
            margin-bottom: 2em;
        }
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <div id="aDiv">
        FooBar-FooBar-FooBar-FooBar
    </div>
    <button id="aButton">
        Check for overflow
    </button>
    
    <div id="anotherDiv">
        FooBar-FooBar-FooBar-FooBar
    </div>
    <button id="anotherButton">
        Check for overflow
    </button>
</body>
<script>
    var buttonOne = document.getElementById('aButton'),
    buttonTwo = document.getElementById('anotherButton'),
    divOne = document.getElementById('aDiv'),
    divTwo = document.getElementById('anotherDiv');

    //check to determine if an overflow is happening
    function isOverflowing(element) {
        return (element.scrollWidth > element.offsetWidth);
    }

    function alertOverflow(element) {
        if (isOverflowing(element)) {
            alert('Contents are overflowing the container.');
        } else {
            alert('No overflows!');
        }
    }

    buttonOne.addEventListener('click', function() {
        alertOverflow(divOne);
    });

    buttonTwo.addEventListener('click', function() {
        alertOverflow(divTwo);
    });
</script>
</html>

Result

Specification

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View Module The definition of 'Element.scrollWidth' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`scrollWidth`	Chrome Full support 43	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 5 Notes Full support 5 Notes Notes In Internet Explorer 5 through 7, if padding is set, the value of `scrollWidth` is equal to the sum of the left and right padding. This behavior was fixed in Internet Explorer 8.	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 6	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support 43	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 4.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
See implementation notes.: See implementation notes.