DocumentOrShadowRoot.activeElement

The activeElement read-only property of the Document and ShadowRoot interfaces returns the Element within the DOM or shadow DOM tree that currently has focus.

Often activeElement will return a HTMLInputElement or HTMLTextAreaElement object if it has the text selection at the time. If so, you can get more detail by using the object's selectionStart and selectionEnd properties. Other times the focused element might be a <select> element (menu) or an <input> element, of type "button", "checkbox", or "radio".

Typically a user can press the tab key to move the focus around the page among focusable elements, and use the space bar to activate one (that is, to press a button or toggle a radio button). Which elements are focusable varies depending on the platform and the browser's current configuration. For example, on macOS systems, elements that aren't text input elements are not typically focusable by default.

Note: Focus (which element is receiving user input events) is not the same thing as selection (the currently highlighted part of the document). You can get the current selection using window.getSelection().

Syntax

element = DocumentOrShadowRoot.activeElement

Value

The Element which currently has focus, <body> or null if there is no focused element.

Example

HTML

<p>Select some text from one of the text areas below:</p>

<form>
  <textarea name="ta-example-one" id="ta-example-one" rows="7" cols="40">This is Text Area One. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec tincidunt, lorem a porttitor molestie, odio nibh iaculis libero, et accumsan nunc orci eu dui.</textarea>
  <textarea name="ta-example-two" id="ta-example-two" rows="7" cols="40">This is Text Area Two. Fusce ullamcorper, nisl ac porttitor adipiscing, urna orci egestas libero, ut accumsan orci lacus laoreet diam. Morbi sed euismod diam.</textarea>
</form>

<p>Active element ID: <b id="output-element"></b></p>
<p>Selected text: <b id="output-text"></b></p>

JavaScript

function onMouseUp(e) {
  const activeTextarea = document.activeElement;
  const selection = activeTextarea.value.substring(
    activeTextarea.selectionStart, activeTextarea.selectionEnd
  );

  const outputElement = document.getElementById('output-element');
  const outputText = document.getElementById('output-text');
  outputElement.innerHTML = activeTextarea.id;
  outputText.innerHTML = selection;
}

const textarea1 = document.getElementById('ta-example-one');
const textarea2 = document.getElementById('ta-example-two');
textarea1.addEventListener('mouseup', onMouseUp, false);
textarea2.addEventListener('mouseup', onMouseUp, false);

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living Standard The definition of 'activeElement' in that specification.	Living Standard

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`activeElement` Experimental	Chrome Full support 53	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 63	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 40	Safari Full support 4	WebView Android Full support 53	Chrome Android Full support 53	Firefox Android Full support 63	Opera Android Full support 41	Safari iOS Full support 3.2	Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.: Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.