Document.execCommand()

When an HTML document has been switched to designMode, the document object exposes the execCommand method which allows one to run commands to manipulate the contents of the editable region. Most commands affect the document's selection (bold, italics, etc.), while others insert new elements (adding a link) or affect an entire line (indenting). When using contentEditable, calling execCommand() will affect the currently active editable element.

Syntax

bool = document.execCommand(aCommandName, aShowDefaultUI, aValueArgument)

Return value

A Boolean that is false if the command is not supported or enabled. Note: Only returns true if part of a user interaction i.e not to be used to verify browser support before rendering an element that calls a command. 

Parameters

aCommandName

A DOMString specifying the name of the command to execute. See Commands for a list of possible commands.

aShowDefaultUI

A Boolean indicating whether the default user interface should be shown. This is not implemented in Mozilla.

aValueArgument

For commands which require an input argument (such as insertImage, for which this is the URL of the image to insert), this is a DOMString providing that information. Specify null if no argument is needed.

Commands

backColor

Changes the document background color. In styleWithCss mode, it affects the background color of the containing block instead. This requires a <color> value string to be passed in as a value argument. Note that Internet Explorer uses this to set the text background color.

bold

Toggles bold on/off for the selection or at the insertion point. Internet Explorer uses the <strong> tag instead of <b>.

contentReadOnly

Makes the content document either read-only or editable. This requires a boolean true/false to be passed in as a value argument. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

copy

Copies the current selection to the clipboard. Conditions of having this behavior enabled vary from one browser to another, and have evolved over time. Check the compatibility table to determine if you can use it in your case.

createLink

Creates an anchor link from the selection, only if there is a selection. This requires the HREF URI string to be passed in as a value argument. The URI must contain at least a single character, which may be a white space. (Internet Explorer will create a link with a null URI value.)

cut

Cuts the current selection and copies it to the clipboard. Conditions of having this behavior enabled vary from one browser to another, and have evolved over time. Check the compatibility table for knowing if you can use it in your case.

decreaseFontSize

Adds a <small> tag around the selection or at the insertion point. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

delete

Deletes the current selection.

enableInlineTableEditing

Enables or disables the table row and column insertion and deletion controls. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

enableObjectResizing

Enables or disables the resize handles on images and other resizable objects. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

fontName

Changes the font name for the selection or at the insertion point. This requires a font name string ("Arial" for example) to be passed in as a value argument.

fontSize

Changes the font size for the selection or at the insertion point. This requires an HTML font size (1-7) to be passed in as a value argument.

foreColor

Changes a font color for the selection or at the insertion point. This requires a color value string to be passed in as a value argument.

formatBlock

Adds an HTML block-style tag around the line containing the current selection, replacing the block element containing the line if one exists (in Firefox, BLOCKQUOTE is the exception - it will wrap any containing block element). Requires a tag-name string to be passed in as a value argument. Virtually all block style tags can be used (eg. "H1", "P", "DL", "BLOCKQUOTE"). (Internet Explorer supports only heading tags H1 - H6, ADDRESS, and PRE, which must also include the tag delimiters < >, such as "<H1>".)

forwardDelete

Deletes the character ahead of the cursor's position.  It is the same as hitting the delete key.

heading

Adds a heading tag around a selection or insertion point line. Requires the tag-name string to be passed in as a value argument (i.e. "H1", "H6"). (Not supported by Internet Explorer and Safari.)

hiliteColor

Changes the background color for the selection or at the insertion point. Requires a color value string to be passed in as a value argument. UseCSS must be turned on for this to function. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

increaseFontSize

Adds a BIG tag around the selection or at the insertion point. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

indent

Indents the line containing the selection or insertion point. In Firefox, if the selection spans multiple lines at different levels of indentation, only the least indented lines in the selection will be indented.

insertBrOnReturn

Controls whether the Enter key inserts a br tag or splits the current block element into two. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

insertHorizontalRule

Inserts a horizontal rule at the insertion point (deletes selection).

insertHTML

Inserts an HTML string at the insertion point (deletes selection). Requires a valid HTML string to be passed in as a value argument. (Not supported by Internet Explorer.)

insertImage

Inserts an image at the insertion point (deletes selection). Requires the image SRC URI string to be passed in as a value argument. The URI must contain at least a single character, which may be a white space. (Internet Explorer will create a link with a null URI value.)

insertOrderedList

Creates a numbered ordered list for the selection or at the insertion point.

insertUnorderedList

Creates a bulleted unordered list for the selection or at the insertion point.

insertParagraph

Inserts a paragraph around the selection or the current line. (Internet Explorer inserts a paragraph at the insertion point and deletes the selection.)

insertText

Inserts the given plain text at the insertion point (deletes selection).

italic

Toggles italics on/off for the selection or at the insertion point. (Internet Explorer uses the EM tag instead of I.)

justifyCenter

Centers the selection or insertion point.

justifyFull

Justifies the selection or insertion point.

justifyLeft

Justifies the selection or insertion point to the left.

justifyRight

Right-justifies the selection or the insertion point.

outdent

Outdents the line containing the selection or insertion point.

paste

Pastes the clipboard contents at the insertion point (replaces current selection). Clipboard capability must be enabled in the user.js preference file. See [1].

redo

Redoes the previous undo command.

removeFormat

Removes all formatting from the current selection.

selectAll

Selects all of the content of the editable region.

strikeThrough

Toggles strikethrough on/off for the selection or at the insertion point.

subscript

Toggles subscript on/off for the selection or at the insertion point.

superscript

Toggles superscript on/off for the selection or at the insertion point.

underline

Toggles underline on/off for the selection or at the insertion point.

undo

Undoes the last executed command.

unlink

Removes the anchor tag from a selected anchor link.

useCSS

Toggles the use of HTML tags or CSS for the generated markup. Requires a boolean true/false as a value argument. NOTE: This argument is logically backwards (i.e. use false to use CSS, true to use HTML). (Not supported by Internet Explorer.) This has been deprecated; use the styleWithCSS command instead.

styleWithCSS

Replaces the useCSS command; argument works as expected, i.e. true modifies/generates style attributes in markup, false generates formatting elements.

Example

An example of how to use it on CodePen.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

We're converting our compatibility data into a machine-readable JSON format. This compatibility table still uses the old format, because we haven't yet converted the data it contains. Find out how you can help!

[1] Before Firefox 41, clipboard capability needed to be enabled in the user.js preference file. See A brief guide to Mozilla preferences for more information. If the command wasn't supported or enabled, execCommand was raising an exception instead of returning false. In Firefox 41 and later, clipboard capability are enabled by default in any event handler that is able to pop-up a window (semi-trusted scripts).

See also

• HTMLElement.contentEditable
• document.designMode
• Rich-Text Editing in Mozilla
• Scribe's "Browser Inconsistencies" documentation with bugs related to document.execCommand.?