HTMLTextAreaElement: maxLength property

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 maxLength property of the HTMLTextAreaElement interface indicates the maximum number of characters (in UTF-16 code units) allowed to be entered for the value of the <textarea> element, and the maximum number of characters allowed for the value to be valid. It reflects the element's maxlength attribute. -1 means there is no limit on the length of the value.

Note: Browsers generally prevent users from entering more characters than the maxlength attribute allows. Should the length be longer, the element is considered invalid and the ValidityState object's tooLong property will be true.

Value

A number representing the element's maxlength if present, or -1.

Example

Given the following HTML:

html
<p>
  <label for="comment">Comment</label>
  <textarea id="comment" minlength="10" maxlength="200"></textarea>
</p>

You can use the maxLength property to retrieve or set the <textarea>'s maxlength attribute value:

js
const textareaElement = document.querySelector("#comment");
console.log(`Element's maxLength: ${textareaElement.maxLength}`); // "Element's maxlength: 200"
textareaElement.maxLength = 220; // updates the element's maxlength attribute value

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# dom-textarea-maxlength

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
maxLength
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 4 (Release date: 2010-01-25)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 4 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
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 4 (Release date: 2011-03-29)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09)
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