Target entire body when using select

Question

I am making a web page and i want to get the highlighted text. Problem is,i want to do something when a user highlights text anywhere within the page.

I have this

$("body").select( function (e) { 
        alert("You selected: "+window.getSelection());
    });

here https://jsfiddle.net/xn9mnmy1/

but it does not seem to work.

What could i be doing wrong?.

Possible duplicate of [Can I get highlighted text with JQuery?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17227070/can-i-get-highlighted-text-with-jquery) — Vucko, May 05 '16 at 21:48
There is no `select` event. Try `mouseup`: https://jsfiddle.net/xn9mnmy1/1/ — Rory McCrossan, May 05 '16 at 21:49

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

0

$('body').on('click', function(){

    var text = "";
    if (window.getSelection) {
        text = window.getSelection().toString();
    } else if (document.selection && document.selection.type != "Control") {
        text = document.selection.createRange().text;
    }

    alert(text);       
});

Source: Can I get highlighted text with JQuery?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

Community

1
1

answered May 05 '16 at 21:50

Felippe Duarte

14,901
2
25
29

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 05 '16 at 22:02

Using the .click() method you can send the selected text as an alert to the user.

You have to make sure if the selected text string is not empty before calling alert() or you will get an alert every time you click anywhere.

$('body').click(readText);

function readText(){
    var text = window.getSelection().toString();
    if(text.length > 0){
            alert("You selected:\n" + text);
        }  
}

See: https://jsfiddle.net/r24b0dpv/

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered May 05 '16 at 21:49

-1

Straight from the documentation:

This event is limited to <input type="text"> fields and <textarea> boxes.

answered May 05 '16 at 21:49

Paul Abbott

7,065
3
27
45

Target entire body when using select

3 Answers3