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Element: compositionupdate event

The compositionupdate event is fired when a new character is received in the context of a text composition session controlled by a text composition system such as an input method editor.

For example, this event could be fired while a user enters a Chinese character using a Pinyin IME.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

js

addEventListener("compositionupdate", (event) => {});

oncompositionupdate = (event) => {};

Event type

Event properties

This interface also inherits properties of its parent, UIEvent, and its ancestor — Event.

CompositionEvent.data Read only

Returns the characters generated by the input method that raised the event; its varies depending on the type of event that generated the CompositionEvent object.

CompositionEvent.locale Read only Deprecated

Returns the locale of current input method (for example, the keyboard layout locale if the composition is associated with IME).

Examples

js

const inputElement = document.querySelector('input[type="text"]');

inputElement.addEventListener("compositionupdate", (event) => {
  console.log(`generated characters were: ${event.data}`);
});

Live example

HTML

html

<div class="control">
  <label for="example">
    First select textbox, then to open IME:
    <ul>
      <li>on macOS type <kbd>option</kbd> + <kbd>`</kbd></li>
      <li>on Windows type <kbd>windows</kbd> + <kbd>.</kbd></li>
    </ul>
  </label>
  <input type="text" id="example" name="example" />
</div>

<div class="event-log">
  <label for="eventLog">Event log:</label>
  <textarea
    readonly
    class="event-log-contents"
    rows="8"
    cols="25"
    id="eventLog"></textarea>
  <button class="clear-log">Clear</button>
</div>

JavaScript

js

const inputElement = document.querySelector('input[type="text"]');
const log = document.querySelector(".event-log-contents");
const clearLog = document.querySelector(".clear-log");

clearLog.addEventListener("click", () => {
  log.textContent = "";
});

function handleEvent(event) {
  log.textContent += `${event.type}: ${event.data}\n`;
}

inputElement.addEventListener("compositionstart", handleEvent);
inputElement.addEventListener("compositionupdate", handleEvent);
inputElement.addEventListener("compositionend", handleEvent);

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
compositionupdate_event 18 12 9 11 15 5 ≤37 18 9 14 5 1.0

See also

© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/compositionupdate_event