Get caret position in HTML input?
JavascriptHtmlCaretJavascript Problem Overview
How do I get the index of the text caret in an input?
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<script type = "text/javascript">
window.addEventListener ("load", function () {
var input = document.getElementsByTagName ("input");
input[0].addEventListener ("keydown", function () {
alert ("Caret position: " + this.selectionStart);
// You can also set the caret: this.selectionStart = 2;
});
});
</script>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<input type = "text">
</body>
</html>
Solution 2 - Javascript
The following will get you the start and end of the selection as character indices. It works for text inputs and textareas, and is slightly complicated because of IE's strange handling of line breaks.
function getInputSelection(el) {
var start = 0, end = 0, normalizedValue, range,
textInputRange, len, endRange;
if (typeof el.selectionStart == "number" && typeof el.selectionEnd == "number") {
start = el.selectionStart;
end = el.selectionEnd;
} else {
range = document.selection.createRange();
if (range && range.parentElement() == el) {
len = el.value.length;
normalizedValue = el.value.replace(/\r\n/g, "\n");
// Create a working TextRange that lives only in the input
textInputRange = el.createTextRange();
textInputRange.moveToBookmark(range.getBookmark());
// Check if the start and end of the selection are at the very end
// of the input, since moveStart/moveEnd doesn't return what we want
// in those cases
endRange = el.createTextRange();
endRange.collapse(false);
if (textInputRange.compareEndPoints("StartToEnd", endRange) > -1) {
start = end = len;
} else {
start = -textInputRange.moveStart("character", -len);
start += normalizedValue.slice(0, start).split("\n").length - 1;
if (textInputRange.compareEndPoints("EndToEnd", endRange) > -1) {
end = len;
} else {
end = -textInputRange.moveEnd("character", -len);
end += normalizedValue.slice(0, end).split("\n").length - 1;
}
}
}
}
return {
start: start,
end: end
};
}
var textBox = document.getElementById("textBoxId");
textBox.focus();
alert( getInputSelection(textBox).start );
Solution 3 - Javascript
There is now a nice jQuery plugin for this: Caret plugin
Then you can just call $("#myTextBox").caret();
Solution 4 - Javascript
We had used something like this for an old javascript application, but I haven't tested it in a couple years:
function getCaretPos(input) {
// Internet Explorer Caret Position (TextArea)
if (document.selection && document.selection.createRange) {
var range = document.selection.createRange();
var bookmark = range.getBookmark();
var caret_pos = bookmark.charCodeAt(2) - 2;
} else {
// Firefox Caret Position (TextArea)
if (input.setSelectionRange)
var caret_pos = input.selectionStart;
}
return caret_pos;
}
Solution 5 - Javascript
Working example of getting cursor point in text box:
function textbox()
{
var ctl = document.getElementById('Javascript_example');
var startPos = ctl.selectionStart;
var endPos = ctl.selectionEnd;
alert(startPos + ", " + endPos);
}
Solution 6 - Javascript
Get coordinates (css: left:x , top:y) of the current caret position in order to position an element (e.g. show tooltip at caret position)
function getCaretCoordinates() {
let x = 0,
y = 0;
const isSupported = typeof window.getSelection !== "undefined";
if (isSupported) {
const selection = window.getSelection();
// Check if there is a selection (i.e. cursor in place)
if (selection.rangeCount !== 0) {
// Clone the range
const range = selection.getRangeAt(0).cloneRange();
// Collapse the range to the start, so there are not multiple chars selected
range.collapse(true);
// getCientRects returns all the positioning information we need
const rect = range.getClientRects()[0];
if (rect) {
x = rect.left; // since the caret is only 1px wide, left == right
y = rect.top; // top edge of the caret
}
}
}
return { x, y };
}
demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/caret-coordinates-index-contenteditable-9tq3o?from-embed