Element: compositionupdate event

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The compositionupdate event is fired when a new character is received in the context of a text composition session controlled by a text composition system such as an input method editor.

For example, this event could be fired while a user enters a Chinese character using a Pinyin Input method editor.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

js
addEventListener("compositionupdate", (event) => { })

oncompositionupdate = (event) => { }

Event type

A CompositionEvent. Inherits from UIEvent and Event.

Event UIEvent CompositionEvent

Event properties

This interface also inherits properties of its parent, UIEvent, and its ancestor — Event.

CompositionEvent.data Read only

Returns the characters generated by the input method that raised the event; its varies depending on the type of event that generated the CompositionEvent object.

CompositionEvent.locale Read only

Returns the locale of current input method (for example, the keyboard layout locale if the composition is associated with IME).

Examples

js
const inputElement = document.querySelector('input[type="text"]');

inputElement.addEventListener("compositionupdate", (event) => {
  console.log(`generated characters were: ${event.data}`);
});

Live example

HTML

html
<div class="control">
  <p>First select textbox, then to open IME:</p>
  <ul>
    <li>on macOS type <kbd>option</kbd> + <kbd>`</kbd></li>
    <li>on Windows type <kbd>windows</kbd> + <kbd>.</kbd></li>
  </ul>
  <label for="example">Example input</label>
  <input type="text" id="example" name="example" />
</div>

<div class="event-log">
  <label for="eventLog">Event log:</label>
  <textarea
    readonly
    class="event-log-contents"
    rows="8"
    cols="25"
    id="eventLog"></textarea>
  <button class="clear-log">Clear</button>
</div>

JavaScript

js
const inputElement = document.querySelector('input[type="text"]');
const log = document.querySelector(".event-log-contents");
const clearLog = document.querySelector(".clear-log");

clearLog.addEventListener("click", () => {
  log.textContent = "";
});

function handleEvent(event) {
  log.textContent += `${event.type}: ${event.data}\n`;
}

inputElement.addEventListener("compositionstart", handleEvent);
inputElement.addEventListener("compositionupdate", handleEvent);
inputElement.addEventListener("compositionend", handleEvent);

Result

Specifications

Specification
UI Events
# event-type-compositionupdate

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
compositionupdate event
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 18 (Release date: 2012-03-28)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 9 (Release date: 2011-12-20)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 15 (Release date: 2013-07-02)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5 (Release date: 2010-06-07)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 9 (Release date: 2011-12-21)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 14 (Release date: 2013-05-21)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 5 (Release date: 2011-10-12)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 5 (Release date: 2011-10-12)
footnote Full support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support

See also