Selection.rangeCount

The Selection.rangeCount read-only property returns the number of ranges in the selection.

Before the user has clicked a freshly loaded page, the rangeCount is 0. After the user clicks on the page, rangeCount is 1, even if no selection is visible.

A user can normally only select one range at a time, so the rangeCount will usually be 1. Scripting can be used to make the selection contain more than 1 range.

Gecko browsers allow multiple selections across table cells.

Syntax

value = sel.rangeCount

Example

The following example will show the rangeCount every second. Select text in the browser to see it change.

HTML Content

Open the console to see how many ranges are in the selection.
In Gecko browsers, you can select multiple ranges across table
cells by holding down Ctrl while dragging with the mouse.

<table>
  <tr><td>a.1<td>a.2
  <tr><td>b.1<td>b.2

JavaScript Content

window.setInterval(function () {
  console.log(window.getSelection().rangeCount);
}, 1000);

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Editing APIs The definition of 'Selection.rangeCount' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Initial definition
Selection API The definition of 'Selection.rangeCount' in that specification.	Working Draft	Current

Browser compatibility

See also

• Selection, the interface it belongs to.