select-focused-dom-element.md

title	shortTitle	type	language	tags	cover	excerpt	dateModified
Select the focused DOM element with JavaScript	Focused DOM element	tip	javascript	browser	horse-sunset	Here's a quick and easy way to select the currently focused DOM element in JavaScript.	2022-10-23

Finding the currently focused DOM element is trivial in modern CSS, using the :focus selector. You can also use it in JavaScript, in combination with Document.querySelector() to find the focused element. Yet, there's an even easier way to get the currently focused element in JavaScript, using the Document.activeElement property.

const focusedElement = document.activeElement;
// `focusedElement` is the currently focused element

Note that focusable elements vary depending on browser and operating system. Additionally, you should remember that focus and selection (i.e. content highlighting) are not the same thing.