Window: blur event

The blur event fires when an element has lost focus.

The opposite of blur is focus.

This event is not cancelable and does not bubble.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

addEventListener("blur", (event) => { })

onblur = (event) => { }

Event type

A FocusEvent. Inherits from UIEvent and Event.

Examples

Live example

This example changes the appearance of a document when it loses focus. It uses addEventListener() to monitor focus and blur events.

HTML

<p id="log">Click on this document to give it focus.</p>

CSS

.paused {
  background: #dddddd;
  color: #555555;
}

JavaScript

const log = document.getElementById("log");

function pause() {
  document.body.classList.add("paused");
  log.textContent = "FOCUS LOST!";
}

function play() {
  document.body.classList.remove("paused");
  log.textContent =
    "This document has focus. Click outside the document to lose focus.";
}

window.addEventListener("blur", pause);
window.addEventListener("focus", play);

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

The value of activeElement varies across browsers while this event is being handled (Firefox bug 452307): IE10 sets it to the element that the focus will move to, while Firefox and Chrome often set it to the body of the document.

See also

• Related event: focus
• This event on Element targets: blur event