Clipboard: readText() method

The readText() method of the Clipboard interface returns a Promise which fulfills with a copy of the textual contents of the system clipboard.

Syntax

readText()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A Promise that resolves with a string containing the textual contents of the clipboard.

Returns an empty string if the clipboard is empty, does not contain text, or does not include a textual representation among the objects representing the clipboard's contents.

Exceptions

NotAllowedError DOMException

Thrown if the access to read the clipboard is not allowed.

NotFoundError DOMException

Thrown if the clipboard indicates that it contains data that can be represented as a text but is unable to provide a textual representation.

Security considerations

Reading from the clipboard can only be done in a secure context.

Additional security requirements are covered in the Security consideration section of the API overview topic.

Examples

This example retrieves the textual contents of the clipboard and inserts the returned text into a selected element's contents.

const destination = document.getElementById("outbox");
destinationImage.addEventListener("click", () => {
  navigator.clipboard
    .readText()
    .then((clipText) => (destination.innerText = clipText));
});

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Clipboard API
• Image support for Async Clipboard article
• Clipboard.read()
• Clipboard.writeText()
• Clipboard.write()