Develop Reference

Copy text to clipboard. Template literal [duplicate]

I have no knowledge of JavaScript, but I managed to put this code together using bits and bolts from various Stack Overflow answers. It works OK, and it outputs an array of all selected checkboxes in a document via an alert box.
function getSelectedCheckboxes(chkboxName) {
var checkbx = [];
var chkboxes = document.getElementsByName(chkboxName);
var nr_chkboxes = chkboxes.length;
for(var i=0; i<nr_chkboxes; i++) {
if(chkboxes[i].type == 'checkbox' && chkboxes[i].checked == true) checkbx.push(chkboxes[i].value);
}
return checkbx;
}
And to call it I use:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" >Check</button>
<script>
document.getElementById('btn_test').onclick = function() {
var checkedBoxes = getSelectedCheckboxes("my_id");
alert(checkedBoxes);
}
</script>
Now I would like to modify it so when I click the btn_test button the output array checkbx is copied to the clipboard. I tried adding:
checkbx = document.execCommand("copy");
or
checkbx.execCommand("copy");
at the end of the function and then calling it like:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" onclick="getSelectedCheckboxes('my_id')">Check</button>
But it does not work. No data is copied to clipboard.

function copyToClipboard(text) {
var dummy = document.createElement("textarea");
// to avoid breaking orgain page when copying more words
// cant copy when adding below this code
// dummy.style.display = 'none'
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
//Be careful if you use texarea. setAttribute('value', value), which works with "input" does not work with "textarea". – Eduard
dummy.value = text;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
copyToClipboard('hello world')
copyToClipboard('hello\nworld')

OK, I found some time and followed the suggestion by Teemu and I was able to get exactly what I wanted.
So here is the final code for anyone that might be interested. For clarification, this code gets all checked checkboxes of a certain ID, outputs them in an array, named here checkbx, and then copies their unique name to the clipboard.
JavaScript function:
function getSelectedCheckboxes(chkboxName) {
var checkbx = [];
var chkboxes = document.getElementsByName(chkboxName);
var nr_chkboxes = chkboxes.length;
for(var i=0; i<nr_chkboxes; i++) {
if(chkboxes[i].type == 'checkbox' && chkboxes[i].checked == true) checkbx.push(chkboxes[i].value);
}
checkbx.toString();
// Create a dummy input to copy the string array inside it
var dummy = document.createElement("input");
// Add it to the document
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
// Set its ID
dummy.setAttribute("id", "dummy_id");
// Output the array into it
document.getElementById("dummy_id").value=checkbx;
// Select it
dummy.select();
// Copy its contents
document.execCommand("copy");
// Remove it as its not needed anymore
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
And its HTML call:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" onclick="getSelectedCheckboxes('ID_of_chkbxs_selected')">Copy</button>

For general purposes of copying any text to the clipboard, I wrote the following function:
function textToClipboard (text) {
var dummy = document.createElement("textarea");
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
dummy.value = text;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
The value of the parameter is inserted into value of a newly created <textarea>, which is then selected, its value is copied to the clipboard and then it gets removed from the document.

Very useful. I modified it to copy a JavaScript variable value to clipboard:
function copyToClipboard(val){
var dummy = document.createElement("input");
dummy.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
dummy.setAttribute("id", "dummy_id");
document.getElementById("dummy_id").value=val;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}

When you need to copy a variable to the clipboard in the Chrome dev console, you can simply use the copy() command.
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/console/command-line-reference#copyobject

I managed to copy text to the clipboard (without showing any text boxes) by adding a hidden input element to body, i.e.:
function copy(txt){
var cb = document.getElementById("cb");
cb.value = txt;
cb.style.display='block';
cb.select();
document.execCommand('copy');
cb.style.display='none';
}
<button onclick="copy('Hello Clipboard!')"> copy </button>
<input id="cb" type="text" hidden>

Use Clipboard API
text = "HEllo World";
navigator.clipboard.writeText(text)
It works on Chrome 66+, Edge 79+, Firefox 63+ & doesn't work on I.E.
Read More About Clipboard API At MDN Docs

Nowadays there is a new(ish) API to do this directly. It works on modern browsers and on HTTPS (and localhost) only. Not supported by IE11.
IE11 has its own API.
And the workaround in the accepted answer can be used for unsecure hosts.
function copyToClipboard (text) {
if (navigator.clipboard) { // default: modern asynchronous API
return navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
} else if (window.clipboardData && window.clipboardData.setData) { // for IE11
window.clipboardData.setData('Text', text);
return Promise.resolve();
} else {
// workaround: create dummy input
const input = h('input', { type: 'text' });
input.value = text;
document.body.append(input);
input.focus();
input.select();
document.execCommand('copy');
input.remove();
return Promise.resolve();
}
}
Note: it uses Hyperscript to create the input element (but should be easy to adapt)
There is no need to make the input invisible, as it is added and removed so fast. Also when hidden (even using some clever method) some browsers will detect it and prevent the copy operation.

At the time of writing, setting display:none on the element didn't work for me. Setting the element's width and height to 0 did not work either. So the element has to be at least 1px in width for this to work.
The following example worked in Chrome and Firefox:
const str = 'Copy me';
const el = document.createElement("input");
// Does not work:
// dummy.style.display = "none";
el.style.height = '0px';
// Does not work:
// el.style.width = '0px';
el.style.width = '1px';
document.body.appendChild(el);
el.value = str;
el.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(el);
I'd like to add that I can see why the browsers are trying to prevent this hackish approach. It's better to openly show the content you are going copy into the user's browser. But sometimes there are design requirements, we can't change.

I just want to add, if someone wants to copy two different inputs to clipboard. I also used the technique of putting it to a variable then put the text of the variable from the two inputs into a text area.
Note: the code below is from a user asking how to copy multiple user inputs into clipboard. I just fixed it to work correctly. So expect some old style like the use of var instead of let or const. I also recommend to use addEventListener for the button.
function doCopy() {
try{
var unique = document.querySelectorAll('.unique');
var msg ="";
unique.forEach(function (unique) {
msg+=unique.value;
});
var temp =document.createElement("textarea");
var tempMsg = document.createTextNode(msg);
temp.appendChild(tempMsg);
document.body.appendChild(temp);
temp.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(temp);
console.log("Success!")
}
catch(err) {
console.log("There was an error copying");
}
}
<input type="text" class="unique" size="9" value="SESA / D-ID:" readonly/>
<input type="text" class="unique" size="18" value="">
<button id="copybtn" onclick="doCopy()"> Copy to clipboard </button>

function CopyText(toCopy, message) {
var body = $(window.document.body);
var textarea = $('<textarea/>');
textarea.css({
position: 'fixed',
opacity: '0'
});
textarea.val(toCopy);
body.append(textarea);
textarea[0].select();
try {
var successful = document.execCommand('copy');
if (!successful)
throw successful;
else
alert(message);
} catch (err) {
window.prompt("Copy to clipboard: Ctrl+C, Enter", toCopy);
}
textarea.remove();
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button type="button" onClick="CopyText('Hello World', 'Text copped!!')">Copy</button>

Copy data to clipboard without selecting any text

Is there any cross-platform, or even mostly cross-platform, way to copy text to the clipboard in JavaScript without making an element, putting it on the page, and then selecting the text? How do the websites with "Copy to clipboard" buttons do it? I don't want it to use input fields because the idea is to copy anything into the clipboard, even stuff that may not be in an element.

I believe these days you can use navigator.clipboard if you only care about this working in modern versions of chrome, firefox, edge and opera.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Clipboard
e.g.
var amazingText = "Hello World! How sweet the content";
navigator.clipboard.writeText(amazingText);
Your best best for safari, ie,old browsers and anything else support is to check if navigator.clipboard is defined and have a fallback to the old inefficient create throw away element select and copy as a last resort.
I have used this mainly when there is a reasonably large about of data to copy to the clipboard as i have noticed performance issues with the select and exec methods.
Edit*
I briefly looked on the clipboard.js website as suggested and there is a sentence which says "This library relies on both Selection and execCommand APIs." which suggests perhaps it does not provide answer the question. However I have not looked at the source to verify this assumption.
https://clipboardjs.com/#browser-support

Hope this is what you looking for.
document.getElementById("copyButton").addEventListener("click", function() {
copyToClipboard(document.getElementById("txt"));
});
setInterval(function(){
document.getElementById("txt").innerHTML = "Copy Me!!! # " + new Date().getTime();
},1000);
function copyToClipboard(elem) {
// create hidden text element, if it doesn't already exist
var targetId = "_hiddenCopyText_";
var isInput = elem.tagName === "INPUT" || elem.tagName === "TEXTAREA";
var origSelectionStart, origSelectionEnd;
if (isInput) {
// can just use the original source element for the selection and copy
target = elem;
origSelectionStart = elem.selectionStart;
origSelectionEnd = elem.selectionEnd;
} else {
// must use a temporary form element for the selection and copy
target = document.getElementById(targetId);
if (!target) {
var target = document.createElement("textarea");
target.style.position = "absolute";
target.style.left = "-9999px";
target.style.top = "0";
target.id = targetId;
document.body.appendChild(target);
}
target.textContent = elem.textContent;
}
// select the content
var currentFocus = document.activeElement;
target.focus();
target.setSelectionRange(0, target.value.length);
// copy the selection
var succeed;
try {
succeed = document.execCommand("copy");
} catch(e) {
succeed = false;
}
// restore original focus
if (currentFocus && typeof currentFocus.focus === "function") {
currentFocus.focus();
}
if (isInput) {
// restore prior selection
elem.setSelectionRange(origSelectionStart, origSelectionEnd);
} else {
// clear temporary content
target.textContent = "";
}
return succeed;
}
input {
width: 400px;
}
<div id="txt">copy me!!!</div><br><br><button id="copyButton">Copy</button><br><br>
<input type="text" placeholder="Click here and press Ctrl-V to see clipboard contents">

You can try Clipboard.js, plenty of examples out there.

How can `document.execCommand()` copy a special text? [duplicate]

I have no knowledge of JavaScript, but I managed to put this code together using bits and bolts from various Stack Overflow answers. It works OK, and it outputs an array of all selected checkboxes in a document via an alert box.
function getSelectedCheckboxes(chkboxName) {
var checkbx = [];
var chkboxes = document.getElementsByName(chkboxName);
var nr_chkboxes = chkboxes.length;
for(var i=0; i<nr_chkboxes; i++) {
if(chkboxes[i].type == 'checkbox' && chkboxes[i].checked == true) checkbx.push(chkboxes[i].value);
}
return checkbx;
}
And to call it I use:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" >Check</button>
<script>
document.getElementById('btn_test').onclick = function() {
var checkedBoxes = getSelectedCheckboxes("my_id");
alert(checkedBoxes);
}
</script>
Now I would like to modify it so when I click the btn_test button the output array checkbx is copied to the clipboard. I tried adding:
checkbx = document.execCommand("copy");
or
checkbx.execCommand("copy");
at the end of the function and then calling it like:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" onclick="getSelectedCheckboxes('my_id')">Check</button>
But it does not work. No data is copied to clipboard.

function copyToClipboard(text) {
var dummy = document.createElement("textarea");
// to avoid breaking orgain page when copying more words
// cant copy when adding below this code
// dummy.style.display = 'none'
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
//Be careful if you use texarea. setAttribute('value', value), which works with "input" does not work with "textarea". – Eduard
dummy.value = text;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
copyToClipboard('hello world')
copyToClipboard('hello\nworld')

OK, I found some time and followed the suggestion by Teemu and I was able to get exactly what I wanted.
So here is the final code for anyone that might be interested. For clarification, this code gets all checked checkboxes of a certain ID, outputs them in an array, named here checkbx, and then copies their unique name to the clipboard.
JavaScript function:
function getSelectedCheckboxes(chkboxName) {
var checkbx = [];
var chkboxes = document.getElementsByName(chkboxName);
var nr_chkboxes = chkboxes.length;
for(var i=0; i<nr_chkboxes; i++) {
if(chkboxes[i].type == 'checkbox' && chkboxes[i].checked == true) checkbx.push(chkboxes[i].value);
}
checkbx.toString();
// Create a dummy input to copy the string array inside it
var dummy = document.createElement("input");
// Add it to the document
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
// Set its ID
dummy.setAttribute("id", "dummy_id");
// Output the array into it
document.getElementById("dummy_id").value=checkbx;
// Select it
dummy.select();
// Copy its contents
document.execCommand("copy");
// Remove it as its not needed anymore
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
And its HTML call:
<button id="btn_test" type="button" onclick="getSelectedCheckboxes('ID_of_chkbxs_selected')">Copy</button>

For general purposes of copying any text to the clipboard, I wrote the following function:
function textToClipboard (text) {
var dummy = document.createElement("textarea");
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
dummy.value = text;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}
The value of the parameter is inserted into value of a newly created <textarea>, which is then selected, its value is copied to the clipboard and then it gets removed from the document.

Very useful. I modified it to copy a JavaScript variable value to clipboard:
function copyToClipboard(val){
var dummy = document.createElement("input");
dummy.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(dummy);
dummy.setAttribute("id", "dummy_id");
document.getElementById("dummy_id").value=val;
dummy.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(dummy);
}

When you need to copy a variable to the clipboard in the Chrome dev console, you can simply use the copy() command.
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/console/command-line-reference#copyobject

I managed to copy text to the clipboard (without showing any text boxes) by adding a hidden input element to body, i.e.:
function copy(txt){
var cb = document.getElementById("cb");
cb.value = txt;
cb.style.display='block';
cb.select();
document.execCommand('copy');
cb.style.display='none';
}
<button onclick="copy('Hello Clipboard!')"> copy </button>
<input id="cb" type="text" hidden>

Use Clipboard API
text = "HEllo World";
navigator.clipboard.writeText(text)
It works on Chrome 66+, Edge 79+, Firefox 63+ & doesn't work on I.E.
Read More About Clipboard API At MDN Docs

Nowadays there is a new(ish) API to do this directly. It works on modern browsers and on HTTPS (and localhost) only. Not supported by IE11.
IE11 has its own API.
And the workaround in the accepted answer can be used for unsecure hosts.
function copyToClipboard (text) {
if (navigator.clipboard) { // default: modern asynchronous API
return navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
} else if (window.clipboardData && window.clipboardData.setData) { // for IE11
window.clipboardData.setData('Text', text);
return Promise.resolve();
} else {
// workaround: create dummy input
const input = h('input', { type: 'text' });
input.value = text;
document.body.append(input);
input.focus();
input.select();
document.execCommand('copy');
input.remove();
return Promise.resolve();
}
}
Note: it uses Hyperscript to create the input element (but should be easy to adapt)
There is no need to make the input invisible, as it is added and removed so fast. Also when hidden (even using some clever method) some browsers will detect it and prevent the copy operation.

At the time of writing, setting display:none on the element didn't work for me. Setting the element's width and height to 0 did not work either. So the element has to be at least 1px in width for this to work.
The following example worked in Chrome and Firefox:
const str = 'Copy me';
const el = document.createElement("input");
// Does not work:
// dummy.style.display = "none";
el.style.height = '0px';
// Does not work:
// el.style.width = '0px';
el.style.width = '1px';
document.body.appendChild(el);
el.value = str;
el.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(el);
I'd like to add that I can see why the browsers are trying to prevent this hackish approach. It's better to openly show the content you are going copy into the user's browser. But sometimes there are design requirements, we can't change.

I just want to add, if someone wants to copy two different inputs to clipboard. I also used the technique of putting it to a variable then put the text of the variable from the two inputs into a text area.
Note: the code below is from a user asking how to copy multiple user inputs into clipboard. I just fixed it to work correctly. So expect some old style like the use of var instead of let or const. I also recommend to use addEventListener for the button.
function doCopy() {
try{
var unique = document.querySelectorAll('.unique');
var msg ="";
unique.forEach(function (unique) {
msg+=unique.value;
});
var temp =document.createElement("textarea");
var tempMsg = document.createTextNode(msg);
temp.appendChild(tempMsg);
document.body.appendChild(temp);
temp.select();
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.removeChild(temp);
console.log("Success!")
}
catch(err) {
console.log("There was an error copying");
}
}
<input type="text" class="unique" size="9" value="SESA / D-ID:" readonly/>
<input type="text" class="unique" size="18" value="">
<button id="copybtn" onclick="doCopy()"> Copy to clipboard </button>

function CopyText(toCopy, message) {
var body = $(window.document.body);
var textarea = $('<textarea/>');
textarea.css({
position: 'fixed',
opacity: '0'
});
textarea.val(toCopy);
body.append(textarea);
textarea[0].select();
try {
var successful = document.execCommand('copy');
if (!successful)
throw successful;
else
alert(message);
} catch (err) {
window.prompt("Copy to clipboard: Ctrl+C, Enter", toCopy);
}
textarea.remove();
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button type="button" onClick="CopyText('Hello World', 'Text copped!!')">Copy</button>

How I can access the selected text in IE11 from context menu, and copy to Clipboard

I have tried anything to get the selected text for a context menu, but it is not working in IE11.
For context menu adding I have added some code in registry, and a htm file with a Javascript.
First I have tried this:
var parentwin = external.menuArguments;
var doc = parentwin.document;
var sel = doc.selection;
var rng = sel.createRange();
var selectedtext = new String(rng.text);
then I have read in IE11 documentation, the document.selection has been repalced in the API with window.getSelection();
So I have tried any variant, window.getSelection... nothing works...
Any idea how I can access the selected text?
And I have searching also how I can copy to the clipboard.. in chrome I have used this script:
function copyToClipboard(text){
var copyDiv = document.createElement('div');
copyDiv.contentEditable = true;
document.body.appendChild(copyDiv);
copyDiv.innerHTML = text;
copyDiv.unselectable = "off";
copyDiv.focus();
document.execCommand('SelectAll');
document.execCommand("Copy", false, null);
document.body.removeChild(copyDiv);
}

Finally I have found the solution: (tested in IE11)
var parentwin = external.menuArguments
var selectedText = getSel();
function getSel(){
var w=window,d=parentwin.document,gS='getSelection';
return (''+(w[gS]?w[gS]():d[gS]?d[gS]():d.selection.createRange().text)).replace(/(^\s+|\s+$)/g,'');
}
parentwin.console.log("the selected text is:"+sel);
copyToClipboard(selectedText);
function copyToClipboard(s) { //only works in IE :(
if (window.clipboardData && clipboardData.setData) {
clipboardData.setData('text', s);
}
}

How do i set the cursor in a html editor using IE (7-8)

Actually i am trying to set the cursor to a specific node inside a html editor (which uses a contenteditable iframe). For example i have several paragraphs and want the cursor to move to the start of the previous paragraph.
Unfortunatly, the Internet Explorers range object does not support setStartBefore and setStartAfter. The ierange project is not an option - the solution i am looking for needs to work with IE out of the box.
How do i set the cursor in IE?
In Firefox the solution is straight forward:
// sets the cursor position (start defines, if cursor is needed at the start or end of the node)
function setCursor(editor, node, start){
var tn = editor.getDoc().createTextNode("."); // gets the editors document
if (start){
node.insertBefore(tn, node.firstChild);
}
else node.appendChild(tn);
rng = editor.selection.getRng(); // gets the browsers range object for the users selection
rng.selectNode(tn);
rng.setStartBefore(tn);
rng.setStartAfter(tn);
ed.selection.setRng(rng);
node.removeChild(tn); // removes the caret node - curser is placed now
}

You could use my Rangy project for this. The code would then be the same in all browsers:
function setCursor(element, start) {
var doc = element.ownerDocument || element.document;
var win = doc.defaultView || doc.parentWindow;
rangy.init();
var range = rangy.createRange(doc);
range.selectNodeContents(element);
range.collapse(start);
rangy.getSelection(win).setSingleRange(range);
}
Alternatively, this particular case isn't too tricky without a library:
function setCursor(element, start) {
var doc = element.ownerDocument || element.document;
if (typeof doc.createRange != "undefined") {
var range = doc.createRange();
range.selectNodeContents(element);
range.collapse(start);
var win = doc.defaultView || doc.parentWindow;
var sel = win.getSelection();
sel.removeAllRanges();
sel.addRange(range);
} else if (typeof doc.body.createTextRange != "undefined") {
var textRange = doc.body.createTextRange();
if (start) {
textRange.moveToElementText(element);
textRange.collapse(start);
} else {
var markerEl = doc.createElement("span");
markerEl.innerHTML = "\u00A0";
element.appendChild(markerEl);
textRange.moveToElementText(markerEl);
element.removeChild(markerEl);
}
textRange.select();
}
}

Working with the Cursor Position
(This solution works for me in IE, Firefox and Opera)