Select the text inside the text box

Question

Select the text inside the text box

Is it possible to select text inside a text field using javascript? Either changing the background of only part of the text area, or highlighting part of the text?

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javascript textarea

alumb Sep 26 '08 at 23:54

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3 answers

Julien L · Answer 1 · 2011-09-29 14:53

Try this piece of code that I wrote this morning, it will highlight a specific set of words:

<html> <head> <title></title> <!-- Load jQuery --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script> <!-- The javascript xontaining the plugin and the code to init the plugin --> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { // let init the plugin, that we called "highlight". // We will highlight the words "hello" and "world", // and set the input area to a widht and height of 500 and 250 respectively. $("#container").highlight({ words: ["hello","world"], width: 500, height: 250 }); }); // the plugin that would do the trick (function($){ $.fn.extend({ highlight: function() { // the main class var pluginClass = function() {}; // init the class // Bootloader pluginClass.prototype.__init = function (element) { try { this.element = element; } catch (err) { this.error(err); } }; // centralized error handler pluginClass.prototype.error = function (e) { // manage error and exceptions here //console.info("error!",e); }; // Centralized routing function pluginClass.prototype.execute = function (fn, options) { try { options = $.extend({},options); if (typeof(this[fn]) == "function") { var output = this[fn].apply(this, [options]); } else { this.error("undefined_function"); } } catch (err) { this.error(err); } }; // ********************** // Plugin Class starts here // ********************** // init the component pluginClass.prototype.init = function (options) { try { // the element reference ( $("#container") ) is stored into "this.element" var scope = this; this.options = options; // just find the different elements we'll need this.highlighterContainer = this.element.find('#highlighterContainer'); this.inputContainer = this.element.find('#inputContainer'); this.textarea = this.inputContainer.find('textarea'); this.highlighter = this.highlighterContainer.find('#highlighter'); // apply the css this.element.css('position','relative'); // place both the highlight container and the textarea container // on the same coordonate to superpose them. this.highlighterContainer.css({ 'position': 'absolute', 'left': '0', 'top': '0', 'border': '1px dashed #ff0000', 'width': this.options.width, 'height': this.options.height, 'cursor': 'text' }); this.inputContainer.css({ 'position': 'absolute', 'left': '0', 'top': '0', 'border': '1px solid #000000' }); // now let make sure the highlit div and the textarea will superpose, // by applying the same font size and stuffs. // the highlighter must have a white text so it will be invisible this.highlighter.css({ 'padding': '7px', 'color': '#eeeeee', 'background-color': '#ffffff', 'margin': '0px', 'font-size': '11px', 'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif' }); // the textarea must have a transparent background so we can see the highlight div behind it this.textarea.css({ 'background-color': 'transparent', 'padding': '5px', 'margin': '0px', 'font-size': '11px', 'width': this.options.width, 'height': this.options.height, 'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif' }); // apply the hooks this.highlighterContainer.bind('click', function() { scope.textarea.focus(); }); this.textarea.bind('keyup', function() { // when we type in the textarea, // we want the text to be processed and re-injected into the div behind it. scope.applyText($(this).val()); }); } catch (err) { this.error(err); } return true; }; pluginClass.prototype.applyText = function (text) { try { var scope = this; // parse the text: // replace all the line braks by <br/>, and all the double spaces by the html version &nbsp; text = this.replaceAll(text,'\n','<br/>'); text = this.replaceAll(text,' ','&nbsp;&nbsp;'); // replace the words by a highlighted version of the words for (var i=0;i<this.options.words.length;i++) { text = this.replaceAll(text,this.options.words[i],'<span style="background-color: #D8DFEA;">'+this.options.words[i]+'</span>'); } // re-inject the processed text into the div this.highlighter.html(text); } catch (err) { this.error(err); } return true; }; // "replace all" function pluginClass.prototype.replaceAll = function(txt, replace, with_this) { return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this); } // don't worry about this part, it just the required code for the plugin to hadle the methods and stuffs. Not relevant here. //********************** // process var fn; var options; if (arguments.length == 0) { fn = "init"; options = {}; } else if (arguments.length == 1 && typeof(arguments[0]) == 'object') { fn = "init"; options = $.extend({},arguments[0]); } else { fn = arguments[0]; options = $.extend({},arguments[1]); } $.each(this, function(idx, item) { // if the component is not yet existing, create it. if ($(item).data('highlightPlugin') == null) { $(item).data('highlightPlugin', new pluginClass()); $(item).data('highlightPlugin').__init($(item)); } $(item).data('highlightPlugin').execute(fn, options); }); return this; } }); })(jQuery); </script> </head> <body> <div id="container"> <div id="highlighterContainer"> <div id="highlighter"> </div> </div> <div id="inputContainer"> <textarea cols="30" rows="10"> </textarea> </div> </div> </body> </html>

This was written for another post (http://facebook.stackoverflow.com/questions/7497824/how-to-highlight-friends-name-in-facebook-status-update-box-textarea/7597420#7597420), but, this seems to be what you are looking for.

Shlomi Hassid · Answer 2 · 2013-08-16 22:07

Easy script I wrote for this: Jsfiddle

OPTIONS:

Optional char counter.
Highlight multiple patterns with different colors.
Regex.
Collect matches with other containers.
Light style: font and face color, backgrounds, border radius and linear height.

Ctrl + Shift to change direction.

 //include function like in the fiddle! //CREATE ELEMENT: create_bind_textarea_highlight({ eleId:"wrap_all_highlighter", width:400, height:110, padding:5, background:'white', backgroundControls:'#585858', radius:5, fontFamilly:'Arial', fontSize:13, lineHeight:18, counterlettres:true, counterFont:'red', matchpatterns:[["(#[0-9A-Za-z]{0,})","$1"],["(@[0-9A-Za-z]{0,})","$1"]], hightlightsColor:['#00d2ff','#FFBF00'], objectsCopy:["copy_hashes","copy_at"] //PRESS Ctrl + SHIFT for direction swip! }); //HTML EXAMPLE: <div id="wrap_all_highlighter" placer='1'></div> <div id='copy_hashes'></div><!--Optional--> <div id='copy_at'></div><!--Optional-->

Good luck

mhausi · Answer 3 · 2012-05-12 10:19

An improved version on top also works with Regex and other TextArea fields:

 <html> <head> <title></title> <!-- Load jQuery --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script> <!-- The javascript xontaining the plugin and the code to init the plugin --> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { // let init the plugin, that we called "highlight". // We will highlight the words "hello" and "world", // and set the input area to a widht and height of 500 and 250 respectively. $("#container0").highlight({ words: [["hello","hello"],["world","world"],["(\\[b])(.+?)(\\[/b])","$1$2$3"]], width: 500, height: 125, count:0 }); $("#container1").highlight({ words: [["hello","hello"],["world","world"],["(\\[b])(.+?)(\\[/b])","$1$2$3"]], width: 500, height: 125, count: 1 }); }); // the plugin that would do the trick (function($){ $.fn.extend({ highlight: function() { // the main class var pluginClass = function() {}; // init the class // Bootloader pluginClass.prototype.__init = function (element) { try { this.element = element; } catch (err) { this.error(err); } }; // centralized error handler pluginClass.prototype.error = function (e) { // manage error and exceptions here //console.info("error!",e); }; // Centralized routing function pluginClass.prototype.execute = function (fn, options) { try { options = $.extend({},options); if (typeof(this[fn]) == "function") { var output = this[fn].apply(this, [options]); } else { this.error("undefined_function"); } } catch (err) { this.error(err); } }; // ********************** // Plugin Class starts here // ********************** // init the component pluginClass.prototype.init = function (options) { try { // the element reference ( $("#container") ) is stored into "this.element" var scope = this; this.options = options; // just find the different elements we'll need this.highlighterContainer = this.element.find('#highlighterContainer'+this.options.count); this.inputContainer = this.element.find('#inputContainer'+this.options.count); this.textarea = this.inputContainer.find('textarea'); this.highlighter = this.highlighterContainer.find('#highlighter'+this.options.count); // apply the css this.element.css({'position':'relative', 'overflow':'auto', 'background':'none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFFFFF', 'height':this.options.height+2, 'width':this.options.width+19, 'border':'1px solid' }); // place both the highlight container and the textarea container // on the same coordonate to superpose them. this.highlighterContainer.css({ 'position': 'absolute', 'left': '0', 'top': '0', 'border': '1px dashed #ff0000', 'width': this.options.width, 'height': this.options.height, 'cursor': 'text', 'z-index': '1' }); this.inputContainer.css({ 'position': 'absolute', 'left': '0', 'top': '0', 'border': '0px solid #000000', 'z-index': '2', 'background': 'none repeat scroll 0 0 transparent' }); // now let make sure the highlit div and the textarea will superpose, // by applying the same font size and stuffs. // the highlighter must have a white text so it will be invisible var isWebKit = navigator.userAgent.indexOf("WebKit") > -1, isOpera = navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera") > -1, isIE /*@cc_on = true @*/, isIE6 = isIE && !window.XMLHttpRequest; // Despite the variable name, this means if IE lower than v7 if (isIE || isOpera){ var padding = '6px 5px'; } else { var padding = '5px 6px'; } this.highlighter.css({ 'padding': padding, 'color': '#eeeeee', 'background-color': '#ffffff', 'margin': '0px', 'font-size': '11px' , 'line-height': '12px' , 'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif' }); // the textarea must have a transparent background so we can see the highlight div behind it this.textarea.css({ 'background-color': 'transparent', 'padding': '5px', 'margin': '0px', 'width': this.options.width, 'height': this.options.height, 'font-size': '11px', 'line-height': '12px' , 'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif', 'overflow': 'hidden', 'border': '0px solid #000000' }); // apply the hooks this.highlighterContainer.bind('click', function() { scope.textarea.focus(); }); this.textarea.bind('keyup', function() { // when we type in the textarea, // we want the text to be processed and re-injected into the div behind it. scope.applyText($(this).val()); }); scope.applyText(this.textarea.val()); } catch (err) { this.error(err) } return true; }; pluginClass.prototype.applyText = function (text) { try { var scope = this; // parse the text: // replace all the line braks by <br/>, and all the double spaces by the html version &nbsp; text = this.replaceAll(text,'\n','<br/>'); text = this.replaceAll(text,' ','&nbsp;&nbsp;'); text = this.replaceAll(text,' ','&nbsp;'); // replace the words by a highlighted version of the words for (var i=0;i<this.options.words.length;i++) { text = this.replaceAll(text,this.options.words[i][0],'<span style="background-color: #D8DFEA;">'+this.options.words[i][1]+'</span>'); //text = this.replaceAll(text,'(\\[b])(.+?)(\\[/b])','<span style="font-weight:bold;background-color: #D8DFEA;">$1$2$3</span>'); } // re-inject the processed text into the div this.highlighter.html(text); if (this.highlighter[0].clientHeight > this.options.height) { // document.getElementById("highlighter0") this.textarea[0].style.height=this.highlighter[0].clientHeight +19+"px"; } else { this.textarea[0].style.height=this.options.height; } } catch (err) { this.error(err); } return true; }; // "replace all" function pluginClass.prototype.replaceAll = function(txt, replace, with_this) { return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this); } // don't worry about this part, it just the required code for the plugin to hadle the methods and stuffs. Not relevant here. //********************** // process var fn; var options; if (arguments.length == 0) { fn = "init"; options = {}; } else if (arguments.length == 1 && typeof(arguments[0]) == 'object') { fn = "init"; options = $.extend({},arguments[0]); } else { fn = arguments[0]; options = $.extend({},arguments[1]); } $.each(this, function(idx, item) { // if the component is not yet existing, create it. if ($(item).data('highlightPlugin') == null) { $(item).data('highlightPlugin', new pluginClass()); $(item).data('highlightPlugin').__init($(item)); } $(item).data('highlightPlugin').execute(fn, options); }); return this; } }); })(jQuery); </script> </head> <body> <div id="container0"> <div id="highlighterContainer0"> <div id="highlighter0"></div> </div> <div id="inputContainer0"> <textarea id="text1" cols="30" rows="15">hello world</textarea> </div> </div> <h1> haus </h1> <div id="container1"> <div id="highlighterContainer1"> <div id="highlighter1"></div> </div> <div id="inputContainer1"> <textarea cols="30" rows="15">hipp hipp hurra, [b]ich hab es jetzt![/b]</textarea> </div> </div> </body>

Select the text inside the text box

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