HTML document selection using javascript

Question

I use this javascript code to get the currently highlighted selection.

var selection = window.getSelection()

If the highlight is a section of text all within a <div>, how can I get the offset from the beginning of the <div> and the length of the highlight? (the length is not just the length of the text, it should be the actual length of the html code for that text)

Offset from the beginning of what?

Tim Down
– Tim Down

2010-10-11 11:11:51 +00:00
Commented Oct 11, 2010 at 11:11 — Tim Down
– Tim Down, Commented Oct 11, 2010 at 11:11

Tim Down · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-11 11:17:02Z

5

You can get the length of the selected HTML as follows:

function getSelectionHtml() {
    var sel, html = "";
    if (window.getSelection) {
        sel = window.getSelection();
        if (sel.rangeCount) {
            var frag = sel.getRangeAt(0).cloneContents();
            var el = document.createElement("div");
            el.appendChild(frag);
            html = el.innerHTML;
        }
    } else if (document.selection && document.selection.type == "Text") {
        html = document.selection.createRange().htmlText;
    }
    return html;
}

alert(getSelectionHtml().length);

answered Oct 11, 2010 at 11:17

Tim Down

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5 Comments

Rana Over a year ago

so this code copies the selection into a new div, then counts the length of its innerHtml?

Tim Down Over a year ago

In non-IE browsers, yes, exactly.

Rana Over a year ago

what about the offset from the beginning of the parent element? thanks

Tom Over a year ago

I'm interested in the answer to rana's question, too.

Tim Down Over a year ago

Such an offset is unlikely to be useful and difficult to obtain. What's wrong with the offset you get from a Range obtained from the selection?

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