GlobalEventHandlers.onclick

The onclick property of the GlobalEventHandlers mixin is the EventHandler for processing click events on a given element.

The click event is raised when the user clicks on an element. It fires after the mousedown and mouseup events, in that order.

Syntax

target.onclick = functionRef;

Value

functionRef is a function name or a function expression. The function receives a MouseEvent object as its sole argument. Within the function, this will be the element upon which the event was triggered.

Only one onclick handler can be assigned to an object at a time. You may prefer to use the EventTarget.addEventListener() method instead, since it's more flexible.

Examples

Detecting clicks

This example simply changes the color of an element when it's clicked upon.

HTML

<div id="demo">Click here</div>

JavaScript

document.getElementById('demo').onclick = function changeContent() {

   document.getElementById('demo').innerHTML = "Help me";
   document.getElementById('demo').style = "Color: red";

}

Result

Getting the coordinates of clicks

This example displays the coordinates at which the most recent mouse button click occurred.

HTML

<p>Click anywhere in this example.</p>
<p id="log"></p>

JavaScript

let log = document.getElementById('log');

document.onclick = inputChange;

function inputChange(e) {
  log.textContent = `Position: (${e.clientX}, ${e.clientY})`;
}

Result

Specification

Browser compatibility

See also

• click event
• Related event handlers
  • GlobalEventHandlers.onauxclick
  • GlobalEventHandlers.ondblclick