HTMLTextAreaElement: setSelectionRange() method

The setSelectionRange() method of the HTMLTextAreaElement interface sets the start and end positions of the current text selection, and optionally the direction, in a <textarea> element. This updates the selection state immediately, though the visual highlight only appears when the element is focused. The direction indicates the in which selection should be considered to have occurred; for example, that the selection was set by the user clicking and dragging from the end of the selected text toward the beginning. In addition, the select and selectionchange events are fired.

This method updates the HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionStart, HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionEnd, and HTMLTextAreaElement.selectionDirection properties immediately, regardless of focus state. The visual selection highlight requires the element to be focused.

To select all of the text of an <textarea> element, use the HTMLTextAreaElement.select() method.

Syntax

setSelectionRange(selectionStart, selectionEnd)
setSelectionRange(selectionStart, selectionEnd, selectionDirection)

Parameters

selectionStart

The index of the first selected character. An index greater than the length of the element's value is treated as pointing to the end of the value. See the selectionStart property for more information.

selectionEnd

The index of the character after the last selected character. An index greater than the length of the element's value is treated as pointing to the end of the value. If selectionEnd is less than selectionStart, then both are treated as the value of selectionEnd. See the selectionEnd property for more information.

selectionDirection Optional

The keyword "forward", "backward", or the default "none" — indicating the direction in which the selection is considered to have been performed. See the selectionDirection property for more information.

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

const textarea = document.getElementById("text-box");
const chars = textarea.textLength;
// if the value is more than 10 characters long
if (chars > 10) {
  // Element must be focused to select a range of text within it
  textarea.focus();
  // select the text between the fifth character from the start and
  // the fifth character from the end
  textarea.setSelectionRange(5, chars - 5);
} else {
  // otherwise select all the text
  textarea.select();
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• <textarea>
• HTMLTextAreaElement
• HTMLTextAreaElement.select()
• HTMLTextAreaElement.textLength
• Selection
• ::selection pseudo-element