Selection API

{{DefaultAPISidebar("Selection API")}} 

[!NOTE] This API is not available in Web Workers (not exposed via {{domxref("WorkerNavigator")}} ).

The Selection API enables developers to access and manipulate the portion of a document selected by the user.

The {{domxref("Window/getSelection()", "Window.getSelection()")}}  and {{domxref("Document/getSelection()", "Document.getSelection()")}}  methods return a {{domxref("Selection")}}  object representing the portion of the document selected by the user. A Selection object provides methods to:

• access the currently selected nodes
• modify the current selection, expanding or collapsing it or selecting an entirely different part of the document
• delete parts of the current selection from the DOM.

The Selection API also provides two events, both firing on {{domxref("Document")}} :

• the {{domxref("Node/selectstart_event", "selectstart")}}  event is fired when the user starts to make a new selection
• the {{domxref("Document/selectionchange_event", "selectionchange")}}  event is fired when the current selection changes.

Interfaces

• {{domxref("Selection")}} 
  • : An interface which represents the part of the document selected by the user or the current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Document/getSelection()", "Document.getSelection()")}} 
  • : A method returning a Selection object representing the current selection or current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Window/getSelection()", "Window.getSelection()")}} 
  • : A method returning a Selection object representing the current selection or current position of the caret.
• {{domxref("Document/selectionchange_event", "Document.selectionchange")}} 
  • : An event which is fired when the current selection is changed.
• {{domxref("Node/selectstart_event", "Node.selectstart")}} 
  • : An event which is fired when a user starts a new selection.

Specifications

{{Specifications}}