Save and Restore DOM text selection

save-and-restore-contenteditable-selection.js

function saveSelection() {
    if (window.getSelection) {
        var sel = window.getSelection();
        if (sel.getRangeAt && sel.rangeCount) {
            return sel.getRangeAt(0);
        }
    } else if (document.selection && document.selection.createRange) {
        return document.selection.createRange();
    }
    return null;
}

function restoreSelection(range) {
    if (range) {
        if (window.getSelection) {
            var sel = window.getSelection();
            sel.removeAllRanges();
            sel.addRange(range);
        } else if (document.selection && range.select) {
            range.select();
        }
    }
}

/**
* How to use:
* You have a text editor, or a textarea, or any text element, then you want to create a widget 
* that adds a link, or anything that causes a new element to get focus so your text element looses it and
* selection is lost, then you may want to restore that selection after.
*/

var selectionRange = saveSelection();

// then, you loose focus

/**
* You get what you wanted and you want your selection back there
*/
restoreSelection(selectionRange);


// Credits: Tim Down's SO answer http://stackoverflow.com/a/3316483/1470564

Thanks for this!

You save my day! Thanks! :-)

Thank you so much😂👍

This saved my day, thank you so much!

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for

It is worth noting that currently getSelection() doesn't work on the content of <textarea> and elements in Firefox, Edge (Legacy) and Internet Explorer. HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange() or the selectionStart and selectionEnd properties could be used to work around this.
MDN window.getSelection()

What is a good solution when the elements have been re-created by setting innerHTML?

With React it seems to not work when the component get rerendered, llike it's loosing track of the selection when rerendering.
It may be more a general react question... Anyone got an idea regarding this behavior?

Life saver, You are awesome :-)

Thanks for sharing the script

This is amazing thanks for sharing 👏🏼