Event.currentTarget

The currentTarget read-only property of the Event interface identifies the current target for the event, as the event traverses the DOM. It always refers to the element to which the event handler has been attached, as opposed to Event.target, which identifies the element on which the event occurred and which may be its descendant.

Syntax

var currentEventTarget = event.currentTarget;

Value

EventTarget

Examples

Event.currentTarget is interesting to use when attaching the same event handler to several elements.

function hide(e){
  e.currentTarget.style.visibility = 'hidden';
  console.log(e.currentTarget);
  // When this function is used as an event handler: this === e.currentTarget
}

var ps = document.getElementsByTagName('p');

for(var i = 0; i < ps.length; i++){
  // Console: print the clicked <p> element
  ps[i].addEventListener('click', hide, false);
}
// Console: print <body>
document.body.addEventListener('click', hide, false);

// Click around and make paragraphs disappear

Note: The value of event.currentTarget is only available while the event is being handled. If you console.log() the event object, storing it in a variable, and then look for the currentTarget key in the console, its value will be null. Instead, you can either directly console.log(event.currentTarget) to be able to view it in the console or use the debugger statement, which will pause the execution of your code thus showing you the value of event.currentTarget.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
DOM
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification.		 Living Standard
DOM4
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification.		 Obsolete
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification
The definition of 'current event target' in that specification.		 Obsolete
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification
The definition of 'Event.currentTarget' in that specification.		 Obsolete Initial definition

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
currentTargetChrome Full support 1Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 1IE Full support 9
Full support 9
No support 6 — 9
Notes
Notes On Internet Explorer 6 through 8, the event model is different. Event listeners are attached with the non-standard EventTarget.attachEvent method. In this model, there is no equivalent to event.currentTarget and this is the global object. One solution to emulate the event.currentTarget feature is to wrap your handler in a function calling the handler using Function.prototype.call with the element as a first argument. This way, this will be the expected value.
Opera Full support 7Safari Full support 10WebView Android Full support 1Chrome Android Full support 18Firefox Android Full support 4Opera Android Full support 10.1Safari iOS Full support 10Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support
Full support
See implementation notes.
See implementation notes.

See also