The CanvasRenderingContext2D
.beginPath()
method of the Canvas 2D API starts a new path by emptying the list of sub-paths. Call this method when you want to create a new path.
Note: To create a new sub-path, i.e., one matching the current canvas state, you can use CanvasRenderingContext2D.moveTo()
.
Syntax
void ctx.beginPath();
Examples
Creating distinct paths
This example creates two paths, each of which contains a single line.
HTML
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
JavaScript
The beginPath()
method is called before beginning each line, so that they may be drawn with different colors.
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas'); const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); // First path ctx.beginPath(); ctx.strokeStyle = 'blue'; ctx.moveTo(20, 20); ctx.lineTo(200, 20); ctx.stroke(); // Second path ctx.beginPath(); ctx.strokeStyle = 'green'; ctx.moveTo(20, 20); ctx.lineTo(120, 120); ctx.stroke();
Result
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
HTML Living Standard The definition of 'CanvasRenderingContext2D.beginPath' in that specification. |
Living Standard |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
beginPath | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1.5 | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See also
- The interface defining this method:
CanvasRenderingContext2D
CanvasRenderingContext2D.closePath()