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HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange

The HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange() method sets the start and end positions of the current text selection in an <input> element.

Optionally, in newer browser versions, you can specify the direction in which selection should be considered to have occurred; this lets you indicate, for example, that the selection as set by the user clicking and dragging from the end of the selected text toward the beginning.

This method updates HTMLInputElement.selectionStart, selectionEnd, and selectionDirection in one call.

Syntax

inputElement.setSelectionRange(selectionStart, selectionEnd[, selectionDirection]);

Parameters

selectionStart: The 0-based index of the first selected character.
selectionEnd: The 0-based index of the character after the last selected character.
selectionDirection Optional: A string indicating the direction in which the selection is performed. This string can be "forward" or "backward", or "none" if the direction is unknown or irrelevant.

Example

The following code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset=utf-8>
<title>JS Bin</title>
<script>
function SelectText () {
        var input = document.getElementById("mytextbox");
            input.focus();
            input.setSelectionRange(2,5);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
  <p><input type="text" id="mytextbox" size="20" value="Mozilla"/></p>
  <p><button onclick="SelectText()">Select text</button></p>
</body>
</html>

will produce the following:

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living Standard The definition of 'HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change
HTML 5.1 The definition of 'HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change
HTML5 The definition of 'HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	1	Yes	1	9	8	Yes