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CanvasRenderingContext2D: getTransform() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2020⁩.

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.getTransform() method of the Canvas 2D API retrieves the current transformation matrix being applied to the context.

Syntax

getTransform()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A DOMMatrix object.

The transformation matrix is described by:

[acebdf001]\left[ \begin{array}{ccc} a & c & e \\ b & d & f \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right]

Note: The returned object is not live, so updating it will not affect the current transformation matrix, and updating the current transformation matrix will not affect an already returned DOMMatrix.

Examples

In the following example, we have two <canvas> elements. We apply a transform to the first one's context using CanvasRenderingContext2D.setTransform() and draw a square on it, then retrieve the matrix from it using getTransform().

We then apply the retrieved matrix directly to the second canvas context by passing the DOMMatrix object directly to setTransform(), and draw a circle on it.

HTML

<canvas width="240"></canvas> <canvas width="240"></canvas>

CSS

canvas {
  border: 1px solid black;
}

JavaScript

const canvases = document.querySelectorAll("canvas");
const ctx1 = canvases[0].getContext("2d");
const ctx2 = canvases[1].getContext("2d");

ctx1.setTransform(1, 0.2, 0.8, 1, 0, 0);
ctx1.fillRect(25, 25, 50, 50);

let storedTransform = ctx1.getTransform();
console.log(storedTransform);

ctx2.setTransform(storedTransform);
ctx2.beginPath();
ctx2.arc(50, 50, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
ctx2.fill();

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet WebView Android WebView on iOS
getTransform 68 79 70 55 11.1 68 79 48 11.3 10.0 68 11.3

See also

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CanvasRenderingContext2D/getTransform