Use JavaScript to place cursor at end of text in text input element

Question

What is the best way (and I presume simplest way) to place the cursor at the end of the text in a input text element via JavaScript - after focus has been set to the element?

Answer 1

There's a simple way to get it working in most browsers.

this.selectionStart = this.selectionEnd = this.value.length;

However, due to the *quirks of a few browsers, a more inclusive answer looks more like this

setTimeout(function(){ that.selectionStart = that.selectionEnd = 10000; }, 0);

Using jQuery (to set the listener, but it's not necessary otherwise)

$('#el').focus(function(){
  var that = this;
  setTimeout(function(){ that.selectionStart = that.selectionEnd = 10000; }, 0);
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id='el' type='text' value='put cursor at end'>

Using Vanilla JS (borrowing addEvent function from this answer)

// Basic cross browser addEvent
function addEvent(elem, event, fn){
if(elem.addEventListener){
  elem.addEventListener(event, fn, false);
}else{
  elem.attachEvent("on" + event,
  function(){ return(fn.call(elem, window.event)); });
}}
var element = document.getElementById('el');

addEvent(element,'focus',function(){
  var that = this;
  setTimeout(function(){ that.selectionStart = that.selectionEnd = 10000; }, 0);
});

<input id='el' type='text' value='put cursor at end'>

---

Quirks

Chrome has an odd quirk where the focus event fires before the cursor is moved into the field; which screws my simple solution up. Two options to fix this:

1. You can add a timeout of 0 ms (to defer the operation until the stack is clear)
2. You can change the event from focus to mouseup. This would be pretty annoying for the user unless you still kept track of focus. I'm not really in love with either of these options.

Also, @vladkras pointed out that some older versions of Opera incorrectly calculate the length when it has spaces. For this you can use a huge number that should be larger than your string.

Answer 2

Try this, it has worked for me:

//input is the input element

input.focus(); //sets focus to element
var val = this.input.value; //store the value of the element
this.input.value = ''; //clear the value of the element
this.input.value = val; //set that value back.  

For the cursor to be move to the end, the input has to have focus first, then when the value is changed it will goto the end. If you set .value to the same, it won't change in chrome.

Answer 3

I faced this same issue (after setting focus through RJS/prototype) in IE. Firefox was already leaving the cursor at the end when there is already a value for the field. IE was forcing the cursor to the beginning of the text.

The solution I arrived at is as follows:

<input id="search" type="text" value="mycurrtext" size="30" 
       onfocus="this.value = this.value;" name="search"/>

This works in both IE7 and FF3 but doesn't work in modern browsers (see comments) as it is not specified that UA must overwrite the value in this case (edited in accordance with meta policy).

Answer 4

After hacking around with this a bit, I found the best way was to use the setSelectionRange function if the browser supports it; if not, revert to using the method in Mike Berrow's answer (i.e. replace the value with itself).

I'm also setting scrollTop to a high value in case we're in a vertically-scrollable textarea. (Using an arbitrary high value seems more reliable than $(this).height() in Firefox and Chrome.)

I've made it is as a jQuery plugin. (If you're not using jQuery I trust you can still get the gist easily enough.)

I've tested in IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox 3.5.5, Google Chrome 3.0, Safari 4.0.4, Opera 10.00.

It's available on jquery.com as the PutCursorAtEnd plugin. For your convenience, the code for release 1.0 is as follows:

// jQuery plugin: PutCursorAtEnd 1.0
// http://plugins.jquery.com/project/PutCursorAtEnd
// by teedyay
//
// Puts the cursor at the end of a textbox/ textarea

// codesnippet: 691e18b1-f4f9-41b4-8fe8-bc8ee51b48d4
(function($)
{
    jQuery.fn.putCursorAtEnd = function()
    {
    return this.each(function()
    {
        $(this).focus()

        // If this function exists...
        if (this.setSelectionRange)
        {
        // ... then use it
        // (Doesn't work in IE)

        // Double the length because Opera is inconsistent about whether a carriage return is one character or two. Sigh.
        var len = $(this).val().length * 2;
        this.setSelectionRange(len, len);
        }
        else
        {
        // ... otherwise replace the contents with itself
        // (Doesn't work in Google Chrome)
        $(this).val($(this).val());
        }

        // Scroll to the bottom, in case we're in a tall textarea
        // (Necessary for Firefox and Google Chrome)
        this.scrollTop = 999999;
    });
    };
})(jQuery);

Answer 5

<script type="text/javascript">  
    function SetEnd(txt) {  
      if (txt.createTextRange) {  
       //IE  
       var FieldRange = txt.createTextRange();  
       FieldRange.moveStart('character', txt.value.length);  
       FieldRange.collapse();  
       FieldRange.select();  
       }  
      else {  
       //Firefox and Opera  
       txt.focus();  
       var length = txt.value.length;  
       txt.setSelectionRange(length, length);  
      }  
    }   
</script>  

This function works for me in IE9, Firefox 6.x, and Opera 11.x

Answer 6

It's 2019 and none of the methods above worked for me, but this one did, taken from https://css-tricks.com/snippets/javascript/move-cursor-to-end-of-input/

function moveCursorToEnd(id) {
  var el = document.getElementById(id) 
  el.focus()
  if (typeof el.selectionStart == "number") {
      el.selectionStart = el.selectionEnd = el.value.length;
  } else if (typeof el.createTextRange != "undefined") {           
      var range = el.createTextRange();
      range.collapse(false);
      range.select();
  }
}

<input id="myinput" type="text" />
<a href="#" onclick="moveCursorToEnd('myinput')">Move cursor to end</a>

Answer 7

el.setSelectionRange(-1, -1);

https://codesandbox.io/s/peaceful-bash-x2mti

This method updates the HTMLInputElement.selectionStart, selectionEnd, and selectionDirection properties in one call.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLInputElement/setSelectionRange

In other js methods -1 usually means (to the) last character. This is the case for this one too, but I couldn't find explicit mention of this behavior in the docs.

Answer 8

I've tried the following with quite great success in chrome

$("input.focus").focus(function () {
    var val = this.value,
        $this = $(this);
    $this.val("");

    setTimeout(function () {
        $this.val(val);
    }, 1);
});

Quick rundown:

It takes every input field with the class focus on it, then stores the old value of the input field in a variable, afterwards it applies the empty string to the input field.

Then it waits 1 milisecond and puts in the old value again.

Answer 9

Simple. When editing or changing values, first put the focus then set value.

$("#catg_name").focus();
$("#catg_name").val(catg_name);

Answer 10

Still the intermediate variable is needed, (see var val=) else the cursor behaves strange, we need it at the end.

<body onload="document.getElementById('userinput').focus();">
<form>
<input id="userinput" onfocus="var val=this.value; this.value=''; this.value= val;"
         class=large type="text" size="10" maxlength="50" value="beans" name="myinput">
</form>
</body>

Answer 11

const end = input.value.length

input.setSelectionRange(end, end)
//  scroll to the bottom if a textarea has long text
input.focus()

Answer 12

Try this one works with Vanilla JavaScript.

<input type="text" id="yourId" onfocus="let value = this.value; this.value = null; this.value=value" name="nameYouWant" class="yourClass" value="yourValue" placeholder="yourPlaceholder...">

In Js

document.getElementById("yourId").focus()

Answer 13

For all browsers for all cases:

function moveCursorToEnd(el) {
    window.setTimeout(function () {
            if (typeof el.selectionStart == "number") {
            el.selectionStart = el.selectionEnd = el.value.length;
        } else if (typeof el.createTextRange != "undefined") {
            var range = el.createTextRange();
            range.collapse(false);
            range.select();
        }
    }, 1);
}

Timeout required if you need to move cursor from onFocus event handler

Answer 14

I like the accepted answer a lot, but it stopped working in Chrome. In Chrome, for the cursor to go to the end, input value needs to change. The solution is as follow:

<input id="search" type="text" value="mycurrtext" size="30" 
   onfocus="var value = this.value; this.value = null; this.value = value;" name="search"/>

Answer 15

document.querySelector('input').addEventListener('focus', e => {
  const { value } = e.target;
  e.target.setSelectionRange(value.length, value.length);
});

<input value="my text" />

Answer 16

In jQuery, that's

$(document).ready(function () {
  $('input').focus(function () {
    $(this).attr('value',$(this).attr('value'));
  }
}

Answer 17

This problem is interesting. The most confusing thing about it is that no solution I found solved the problem completely.

+++++++ SOLUTION +++++++

1. You need a JS function, like this:

   function moveCursorToEnd(obj) {
   
     if (!(obj.updating)) {
       obj.updating = true;
       var oldValue = obj.value;
       obj.value = '';
       setTimeout(function(){ obj.value = oldValue; obj.updating = false; }, 100);
     }
   
   }
   

2. You need to call this guy in the onfocus and onclick events.

   <input type="text" value="Test Field" onfocus="moveCursorToEnd(this)" onclick="moveCursorToEnd(this)">
   

IT WORKS ON ALL DEVICES AN BROWSERS!!!!

Answer 18

I just found that in iOS, setting textarea.textContent property will place the cursor at the end of the text in the textarea element every time. The behavior was a bug in my app, but seems to be something that you could use intentionally.

Answer 19

var valsrch = $('#search').val();
$('#search').val('').focus().val(valsrch);

Answer 20

Taking some of the answers .. making a single-line jquery.

$('#search').focus().val($('#search').val());

Answer 21

If the input field just needs a static default value I usually do this with jQuery:

$('#input').focus().val('Default value');

This seems to work in all browsers.

Answer 22

While this may be an old question with lots of answers, I ran across a similar issue and none of the answers were quite what I wanted and/or were poorly explained. The issue with selectionStart and selectionEnd properties is that they don't exist for input type number (while the question was asked for text type, I reckon it might help others who might have other input types that they need to focus). So if you don't know whether the input type the function will focus is a type number or not, you cannot use that solution.

The solution that works cross browser and for all input types is rather simple:

• get and store the value of input in a variable
• focus the input
• set the value of input to the stored value

That way the cursor is at the end of the input element.
So all you'd do is something like this (using jquery, provided the element selector that one wishes to focus is accessible via 'data-focus-element' data attribute of the clicked element and the function executes after clicking on '.foo' element):

$('.foo').click(function() {
    element_selector = $(this).attr('data-focus-element');
    $focus = $(element_selector);
    value = $focus.val();
    $focus.focus();
    $focus.val(value);
});

Why does this work? Simply, when the .focus() is called, the focus will be added to the beginning of the input element (which is the core problem here), ignoring the fact, that the input element already has a value in it. However, when the value of an input is changed, the cursor is automatically placed at the end of the value inside input element. So if you override the value with the same value that had been previously entered in the input, the value will look untouched, the cursor will, however, move to the end.

Answer 23

Super easy (you may have to focus on the input element)

inputEl = getElementById('inputId');
var temp = inputEl.value;
inputEl.value = '';
inputEl.value = temp;

Answer 24

If you set the value first and then set the focus, the cursor will always appear at the end.

$("#search-button").click(function (event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    $('#textbox').val('this');
    $("#textbox").focus();
    return false;
});

Here is the fiddle to test https://jsfiddle.net/5on50caf/1/

Answer 25

I wanted to put cursor at the end of a "div" element where contenteditable = true, and I got a solution with Xeoncross code:

<input type="button" value="Paste HTML" onclick="document.getElementById('test').focus(); pasteHtmlAtCaret('<b>INSERTED</b>'); ">

<div id="test" contenteditable="true">
    Here is some nice text
</div>

And this function do magic:

 function pasteHtmlAtCaret(html) {
    var sel, range;
    if (window.getSelection) {
        // IE9 and non-IE
        sel = window.getSelection();
        if (sel.getRangeAt && sel.rangeCount) {
            range = sel.getRangeAt(0);
            range.deleteContents();

            // Range.createContextualFragment() would be useful here but is
            // non-standard and not supported in all browsers (IE9, for one)
            var el = document.createElement("div");
            el.innerHTML = html;
            var frag = document.createDocumentFragment(), node, lastNode;
            while ( (node = el.firstChild) ) {
                lastNode = frag.appendChild(node);
            }
            range.insertNode(frag);

            // Preserve the selection
            if (lastNode) {
                range = range.cloneRange();
                range.setStartAfter(lastNode);
                range.collapse(true);
                sel.removeAllRanges();
                sel.addRange(range);
            }
        }
    } else if (document.selection && document.selection.type != "Control") {
        // IE < 9
        document.selection.createRange().pasteHTML(html);
    }
}

Works fine for most browsers, please check it, this code puts text and put focus at the end of the text in div element (not input element)

https://jsfiddle.net/Xeoncross/4tUDk/

Thanks, Xeoncross

Answer 26

I also faced same problem. Finally this gonna work for me:

jQuery.fn.putCursorAtEnd =  = function() {

  return this.each(function() {

    // Cache references
    var $el = $(this),
        el = this;

    // Only focus if input isn't already
    if (!$el.is(":focus")) {
     $el.focus();
    }

    // If this function exists... (IE 9+)
    if (el.setSelectionRange) {

      // Double the length because Opera is inconsistent about whether a carriage return is one character or two.
      var len = $el.val().length * 2;

      // Timeout seems to be required for Blink
      setTimeout(function() {
        el.setSelectionRange(len, len);
      }, 1);

    } else {

      // As a fallback, replace the contents with itself
      // Doesn't work in Chrome, but Chrome supports setSelectionRange
      $el.val($el.val());

    }

    // Scroll to the bottom, in case we're in a tall textarea
    // (Necessary for Firefox and Chrome)
    this.scrollTop = 999999;

  });

};

This is how we can call this:

var searchInput = $("#searchInputOrTextarea");

searchInput
  .putCursorAtEnd() // should be chainable
  .on("focus", function() { // could be on any event
    searchInput.putCursorAtEnd()
  });

It's works for me in safari, IE, Chrome, Mozilla. On mobile devices I didn't tried this.

Answer 27

Check this solution!

//fn setCurPosition
$.fn.setCurPosition = function(pos) {
    this.focus();
    this.each(function(index, elem) {
        if (elem.setSelectionRange) {
            elem.setSelectionRange(pos, pos);
        } else if (elem.createTextRange) {
            var range = elem.createTextRange();
            range.collapse(true);
            range.moveEnd('character', pos);
            range.moveStart('character', pos);
            range.select();
        }
    });
    return this;
};

// USAGE - Set Cursor ends
$('#str1').setCurPosition($('#str1').val().length);

// USAGE - Set Cursor at 7 position
// $('#str2').setCurPosition(7);

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<p>Set cursor at any position</p>
<p><input type="text" id="str1" value="my string here" /></p>
<p><input type="text" id="str2" value="my string here" /></p>

Answer 28

Set the cursor when click on text area to the end of text... Variation of this code is...ALSO works! for Firefox, IE, Safari, Chrome..

In server-side code:

txtAddNoteMessage.Attributes.Add("onClick", "sendCursorToEnd('" & txtAddNoteMessage.ClientID & "');")

In Javascript:

function sendCursorToEnd(obj) {
    var value =  $(obj).val(); //store the value of the element
    var message = "";
    if (value != "") {
        message = value + "\n";
     };
    $(obj).focus().val(message);
    $(obj).unbind();
 }

Answer 29

I took the best answers from here, and created a function that works well in Chrome.

1. You will need to wrap the logic in a timeout, because you have to wait for the focus to finish before accessing the selection
2. To place the cursor at the end, the selection start needs to be placed at the end
3. In order to scroll to the end of the input field, the scrollLeft needs to match the scrollWidth

/**
 * Upon focus, set the cursor to the end of the text input
 * @param {HTMLInputElement} inputEl - An HTML <input> element
 */
const setFocusEnd = (inputEl) => {
  setTimeout(() => {
    const { scrollWidth, value: { length } } = inputEl;
    inputEl.setSelectionRange(length, length);
    inputEl.scrollLeft = scrollWidth;
  }, 0);
};

document
  .querySelector('input')
  .addEventListener('focus', (e) => setFocusEnd(e.target));

html, body {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
}

input:focus {
  background-color: hsla(240, 100%, 95%, 1.0);
}

<div>Click anywhere in the field</div>
<input
  type="text"
  placeholder="Search..."
  value="This is some really, really long text">

Answer 30

<input id="input_1">
<input id="input_2" type="hidden">

<script type="text/javascript">
//save input_1 value to input_2
$("#input_2").val($("#input_1").val());

//empty input_1 and add the saved input_2 into input_1
$("#input_1").val("").val($("#input_2").val()).focus();
</script>

Answer 31

Here’s a jsFiddle demo of my answer. The demo uses CoffeeScript, but you can convert it to plain JavaScript if you need to.

The important part, in JavaScript:

var endIndex = textField.value.length;
if (textField.setSelectionRange) {
   textField.setSelectionRange(endIndex, endIndex);
}

I’m posting this answer because I already wrote it for someone else who had the same question. This answer doesn’t cover as many edge cases as the top answers here, but it works for me, and has a jsFiddle demo you can play with.

Here is the code from the jsFiddle, so this answer is preserved even if the jsFiddle disappears:

moveCursorToEnd = (textField) ->
  endIndex = textField.value.length
  if textField.setSelectionRange
    textField.setSelectionRange(endIndex, endIndex)

jQuery ->
  $('.that-field').on 'click', ->
    moveCursorToEnd(this)

<div class="field">
    <label for="pressure">Blood pressure</label>:
    <input class="that-field" type="text" name="pressure" id="pressure" value="24">
</div>
<p>
    Try clicking in the text field. The cursor will always jump to the end.
</p>

body {
    margin: 1em;
}

.field {
    margin-bottom: 1em;
}

Answer 32

Try the following code:

$('input').focus(function () {
    $(this).val($(this).val());
}).focus()

Answer 33

I tried the suggestions before but none worked for me (tested them in Chrome), so I wrote my own code - and it works fine in Firefox, IE, Safari, Chrome...

In Textarea:

onfocus() = sendCursorToEnd(this);

In Javascript:

function sendCursorToEnd(obj) { 
var value = obj.value; //store the value of the element
var message = "";
if (value != "") {
    message = value + "\n";
};
$(obj).focus().val(message);}

Answer 34

Though I'm answering too late, but for future query, it will be helpful. And it also work in contenteditable div.

From where you need to set focus at end; write this code-

var el = document.getElementById("your_element_id");
placeCaretAtEnd(el);

And the function is -

function placeCaretAtEnd(el) {
    el.focus();
    if (typeof window.getSelection != "undefined"
            && typeof document.createRange != "undefined") {
        var range = document.createRange();
        range.selectNodeContents(el);
        range.collapse(false);
        var sel = window.getSelection();
        sel.removeAllRanges();
        sel.addRange(range);
    } else if (typeof document.body.createTextRange != "undefined") {
        var textRange = document.body.createTextRange();
        textRange.moveToElementText(el);
        textRange.collapse(false);
        textRange.select();
    }
}

Answer 35

Well, I just use:

$("#myElement").val($("#myElement").val());

Answer 36

input = $('input'); 
input.focus().val(input.val()+'.'); 
if (input.val()) {input.attr('value', input.val().substr(0,input.val().length-1));}