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HTMLElement: copy event

The copy event fires when the user initiates a copy action through the browser's user interface.

Syntax

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

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

oncopy = (event) => {};

Event type

A ClipboardEvent. Inherits from Event.

Event properties

Also inherits properties from its parent Event.

ClipboardEvent.clipboardData Read only: A DataTransfer object containing the data affected by the user-initiated cut, copy, or paste operation, along with its MIME type.

Example

This example blocks every copy and paste attempt from the <textarea>.

HTML

html

<h3>Play with this text area:</h3>
<textarea id="editor" rows="3">
Try copying and pasting text into this field!
</textarea>

<h3>Log:</h3>
<p id="log"></p>

JavaScript

const log = document.getElementById("log");

function logCopy(event) {
  log.innerText = `Copy blocked!\n${log.innerText}`;
  event.preventDefault();
}

function logPaste(event) {
  log.innerText = `Paste blocked!\n${log.innerText}`;
  event.preventDefault();
}

const editor = document.getElementById("editor");

editor.oncopy = logCopy;
editor.onpaste = logPaste;

Result

Specifications

Specification
Clipboard API and events # clipboard-event-copy
HTML Standard # handler-oncopy

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
`copy_event`	1	12	22	9 Before Internet Explorer 9, this event is not supported via `addEventListener`; however, the event handler is supported since IE 5.5. The event can be listened to via `element.oncopy`.	≤12.1	3	4.4	18	22	≤12.1	3	1.0