Question

Using jquery or pure javascript, is there a way to get the currently selected text of a <p> tag? I’m aware of input.selectionStart, but it only exists on <input>.

Answer 1

Here’s a simple solution. Works in chrome, safari, FF, and IE9+, but you will have to test on any other legacy browsers you may want to support. http://jsfiddle.net/YEu3k/1/

<p id="pText">here is some text</p>

<script>
    document.getElementById('pText').onmouseup = function(){
        var sel = window.getSelection(), range;
        if (sel.getRangeAt) {
            range = sel.getRangeAt(0);
            alert(range);
        }
    };
</script>