Range: getBoundingClientRect() method

The Range.getBoundingClientRect() method returns a DOMRect object that bounds the contents of the range; this is a rectangle enclosing the union of the bounding rectangles for all the elements in the range.

This method is useful for determining the viewport coordinates of the cursor or selection inside a text box. See getBoundingClientRect() for details on the returned value.

Syntax

getBoundingClientRect()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A DOMRect object that encloses the union of the bounding rectangles for all elements in the range.

Examples

HTML

<div id="highlight"></div>
<p>
  This example positions a "highlight" rectangle behind the contents of a range.
  The range's content <em>starts here</em> and continues on until it
  <em>ends here</em>. The bounding client rectangle contains everything selected
  in the range.
</p>

CSS

#highlight {
  background: yellow;
  position: absolute;
  z-index: -1;
}

p {
  width: 200px;
}

JavaScript

const range = document.createRange();
range.setStartBefore(document.getElementsByTagName("em").item(0));
range.setEndAfter(document.getElementsByTagName("em").item(1));

const clientRect = range.getBoundingClientRect();
const highlight = document.getElementById("highlight");
highlight.style.left = `${clientRect.x}px`;
highlight.style.top = `${clientRect.y}px`;
highlight.style.width = `${clientRect.width}px`;
highlight.style.height = `${clientRect.height}px`;

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• getClientRects() - finer-grained result for non-rectangular ranges (e.g., when the selection wraps onto the next line);
• getBoundingClientRect()
• caretPositionFromPoint() - to get the (node, offset) from viewport coordinates.