Event.currentTarget

The currentTarget read-only property of the Event interface identifies the current target for the event, as the event traverses the DOM. It always refers to the element to which the event handler has been attached, as opposed to Event.target, which identifies the element on which the event occurred and which may be its descendant.

Syntax

var currentEventTarget = event.currentTarget;

Value

EventTarget

Examples

Event.currentTarget is interesting to use when attaching the same event handler to several elements.

function hide(e){
  e.currentTarget.style.visibility = 'hidden';
  console.log(e.currentTarget);
  // When this function is used as an event handler: this === e.currentTarget
}

var ps = document.getElementsByTagName('p');

for(var i = 0; i < ps.length; i++){
  // Console: print the clicked <p> element
  ps[i].addEventListener('click', hide, false);
}
// Console: print <body>
document.body.addEventListener('click', hide, false);

// Click around and make paragraphs disappear

Note: The value of event.currentTarget is only available while the event is being handled. If you console.log() the event object, storing it in a variable, and then look for the currentTarget key in the console, its value will be null. Instead, you can either directly console.log(event.currentTarget) to be able to view it in the console or use the debugger statement, which will pause the execution of your code thus showing you the value of event.currentTarget.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
DOM
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification. 		Living Standard
DOM4
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification.		 Obsolete
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification
The definition of 'current event target' in that specification. 		Obsolete
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification.		 Obsolete Initial definition

Browser compatibility

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See also