How do you get the currently selected <option> of a <select> element via JavaScript?
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ROMANIA_engineer
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Paul D. Waite
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1Possible duplicate: [How to get the selected value of dropdownlist using JavaScript?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1085801/how-to-get-the-selected-value-of-dropdownlist-using-javascript) – Anderson Green May 26 '13 at 07:33
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2@AndersonGreen: that isn’t *quite* the same question. It’s actually asking how to get the text of the selection ` – Paul D. Waite May 26 '13 at 08:49
4 Answers
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This will do it for you:
var yourSelect = document.getElementById( "your-select-id" );
alert( yourSelect.options[ yourSelect.selectedIndex ].value )
Pat
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15if you use it to access the value of the option, you may as well just use `yourSelect.value`. Very old, archaic browsers might not support it, but IE6 and every modern browser does. – Andy E Jul 21 '10 at 16:52
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@Andy E: ooh, there’s an idea — that is indeed what I’m doing, and your code is a bit easier to read. – Paul D. Waite Jul 21 '10 at 17:02
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@Andy E: ah, one caveat about that method — it doesn’t return the text of the ` – Paul D. Waite Jul 29 '10 at 16:24
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The .selectedIndex of the select object has an index; you can use that to index into the .options array.
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Using the selectedOptions property:
var yourSelect = document.getElementById("your-select-id");
alert(yourSelect.selectedOptions[0].value);
It works in all browsers except Internet Explorer.
Finesse
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3“It works in all browsers except Internet Explorer.” As soon as everyone stops using Internet Explorer, we’re golden! [Possible polyfill here](https://gist.github.com/brettz9/4212217). – Paul D. Waite Jan 31 '18 at 08:42
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if you don't have multiple selection You can do it like.
var yourSelect = document.getElementById( "your-select-id" );
alert(yourSelect.selectedOptions[0].value)
Will do the same thing like the choosen answer. Since .selectedOptions gives you a list of selected options elements
jasjastone
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1Sure, although it's already mentioned in [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/48534292/20578) – Paul D. Waite Apr 03 '23 at 19:05