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javascriptdomsubstringindexofgetselection

How to find index of selected text in getSelection() using javascript?


I am trying to apply style to the text selected by the user(mouse drag) for which I need to get the start and end index of the selected text.

I have tried using "indexOf(...)" method. but it returns the first occurrence of the selected substring. I want the actual position of the substring with respect to the original string. For example.., if I select the letter 'O' at position 3 [YOLO Cobe], I expect the index as 3 but the indexOf() method returns 1 which is the first occurrence of 'O' in [YOLO Cobe].

Is there any other method of getting the actual start and end index of selected text and not the first occurrence ?

function getSelectionText()
{
    var text = "";
    if (window.getSelection) {
        text = window.getSelection().toString();
    }
    return text;
}
document.getElementById('ip').addEventListener('mouseup',function(e)
{
        var txt=this.innerText;
        console.log(txt);
        var selectedText = getSelectionText();
        console.log(selectedText);
        var start = txt.indexOf(selectedText);
        var end = start + selectedText.length;
        if (start >= 0 && end >= 0){
    	    console.log("start: " + start);
    	    console.log("end: " + end);
        }
});
<div id="ip">YOLO Cobe</div>


Solution

  • What you are looking for is available inside object returned by window.getSelection()

    document.getElementById('ip').addEventListener('mouseup',function(e)
    {
            var txt = this.innerText;
            var selection = window.getSelection();
            var start = selection.anchorOffset;
            var end = selection.focusOffset;
            if (start >= 0 && end >= 0){
        	    console.log("start: " + start);
        	    console.log("end: " + end);
            }
    });
    <div id="ip">YOLO Cobe</div>

    And here is example for more complex selections on page based on @Kaiido comment:

    document.addEventListener('mouseup',function(e)
    {
            var txt = this.innerText;
            var selection = window.getSelection();
            var start = selection.anchorOffset;
            var end = selection.focusOffset;
            console.log('start at postion', start, 'in node', selection.anchorNode.wholeText)
            console.log('stop at position', end, 'in node', selection.focusNode.wholeText)
    });
    <div><span>Fragment1</span> fragment2 <span>fragment3</span></div>