What is select Method in JavaScript

Sometimes, the developers need to add a feature to select the whole text with a single mouse click or button click. To perform this task, JavaScript provides a simple method called the “select()” method. It simply selects the text where it will be called.

This write-up will define the select() method to select a text in JavaScript.

What is select() Method in JavaScript?

The “select()” method in JavaScript selects all the text in a text area using the <textarea> tag in HTML or in an input field using <input> tag. It is called the “HTMLInputElement.select()” method. You can use this method with the “this” keyword in the HTML element to get the currently selected element. Then, fetch it using the “getElementById()” method in the JavaScript file or <script> tag.

How to Use select() Method in JavaScript?

For using the select() method, follow the provided syntax:

The select() method takes no parameter and returns nothing but only selects the text in the text field or in the text area.

Check out the given examples to understand the select() method.

Example 1: Select Text Using “this” With select() Method

In this example, we will select a text in a text field without using any JavaScript file or a <script> tag. Firstly, we will create a heading “Select the text on click” using an HTML <h4> tag:

Then, add an input text field where we will set a value “LinuxHint” and attach an “onclick()” event that calls the “select()” method with “this” keyword:

When the mouse clicks on the text field, it will select the whole text that exists within it:

Example 2: Select Text using getElementById() Method

Here, we will enter a text in a text field and then select the whole text by clicking on the button. For this purpose, we will create an input field with “selectedText” id and a placeholder:

Then, create a button and attach an “onclick()” event with it, which calls the JavaScript user-defined function called “selectedTextFunc()”:

In the script tag, we will create a JavaScript function that fetches the id of the text field and then calls the “select()” method. When the button is clicked, the below function will trigger:

Output

We have covered all the essential information related to the JavaScript select() method.

Conclusion

The “select()” method is the predefined method in JavaScript that is used for selecting the text in the text field or the text area. You can use it by getting the id of the field or text area by utilizing the “getElementById()” method in a user-defined method that will further call in the HTML, or you can use it directly in HTML with the “this” keyword. In this write-up, we have discussed the select() method in JavaScript with detailed examples.