Selection: toString() method

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.

See full compatibility

The Selection.toString() method returns a string currently being represented by the selection object, i.e., the currently selected text.

Syntax

toString()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A string representing the selection.

Description

This method returns the currently selected text.

In JavaScript, this method is called automatically when a function the selection object is passed to requires a string:

alert(window.getSelection()); // What is called
alert(window.getSelection().toString()); // What is actually being effectively called.

Specifications

Specification
Selection API # dom-selection-stringifier

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
`toString`	Chrome – Full support Chrome 1 (Release date: 2008-12-11) footnote Full support	Edge – Full support Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29) footnote Full support	Firefox – Full support Firefox 1 (Release date: 2004-11-09) footnote footnote Before Firefox 139, `toString()` returns an empty string for selected texts in form elements. See bug 85686.	Opera – Full support Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20) footnote Full support	Safari – Full support Safari 1.3 (Release date: 2005-04-15) 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 footnote Before Firefox for Android 139, `toString()` returns an empty string for selected texts in form elements. See bug 85686.	Opera Android – Full support Opera Android 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09) footnote Full support	Safari on iOS – Full support Safari on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29) 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 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29) footnote Full support

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Full support: Full support
: See implementation notes.