CSSStyleSheet: replace() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since March 2023.

The replace() method of the CSSStyleSheet interface asynchronously replaces the content of the stylesheet with the content passed into it. The method returns a promise that resolves with the CSSStyleSheet object.

The replace() and CSSStyleSheet.replaceSync() methods can only be used on a stylesheet created with the CSSStyleSheet() constructor.

Syntax

js
replace(text)

Parameters

text

A string containing the style rules to replace the content of the stylesheet. If the string does not contain a parsable list of rules, then the value will be set to an empty string.

Note: If any of the rules passed in text are an external stylesheet imported with the @import rule, those rules will be removed, and a warning printed to the console.

Return value

A Promise that resolves with the CSSStyleSheet.

Exceptions

NotAllowedError DOMException

Thrown if one of these two conditions is met:

  • The stylesheet was not created using the CSSStyleSheet() constructor.
  • The stylesheet is flagged as unmodifiable.

Examples

In the following example a new stylesheet is created and two CSS rules are added using replace(). The first rule is then printed to the console, which will return: body { font-size: 1.4em; }

js
const stylesheet = new CSSStyleSheet();

stylesheet
  .replace("body { font-size: 1.4em; } p { color: red; }")
  .then(() => {
    console.log(stylesheet.cssRules[0].cssText);
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    console.error("Failed to replace styles:", err);
  });

Specifications

Specification
CSS Object Model (CSSOM)
# dom-cssstylesheet-replace

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
replace
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 73 (Release date: 2019-03-12)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 79 (Release date: 2020-01-15)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 101 (Release date: 2022-05-31)
footnote
footnote Before Firefox 121, when calling replace() repeatedly, the style is applied, but the change is not reflected in the CSS Object Model. See bug 1864815.
Opera – Full support
Opera 60 (Release date: 2019-04-09)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 16.4 (Release date: 2023-03-27)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 73 (Release date: 2019-03-12)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 101 (Release date: 2022-05-31)
footnote
footnote Before Firefox for Android 121, when calling replace() repeatedly, the style is applied, but the change is not reflected in the CSS Object Model. See bug 1864815.
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 52 (Release date: 2019-05-17)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 16.4 (Release date: 2023-03-27)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 11 (Release date: 2019-12-05)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 73 (Release date: 2019-03-12)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 16.4 (Release date: 2023-03-27)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
See implementation notes.

See also