Get the selected text

Read the text of the current document selection.

JavaScriptBrowser · DOM Version 1.0.0 · MIT · .md

function getSelectedText() { return window.getSelection()?.toString() ?? ''; }

Usage

Markup

<p id="quote">Small code. Working integrations.</p>

Script

const range = document.createRange();
range.selectNodeContents(document.querySelector('#quote'));
getSelection().removeAllRanges();
getSelection().addRange(range);
getSelectedText(); // → 'Small code. Working integrations.'

Lines marked → were executed in headless Chromium against the markup above, and each result was compared with the value shown. Lines marked e.g. are illustrative.

Know the limits

• Text selected inside an input or textarea is not part of the document selection: read value.slice(selectionStart, selectionEnd) on the field.
• Some browsers return null from getSelection() in a hidden iframe; the fallback returns "".

The function above is the code the usage lines run. It does not validate its arguments; add checks where it receives untrusted input.

Keep exploring

• Check if a given DOMRect is contained within another DOMRect — True when the target lies inside the container or on its edges.
• Check if two DOMRects intersect — Two rects intersect when they meet on both axes.
• Compare two DOMRects for size and position match — Compare x, y, width and height exactly.