How to Get Caret Coordinates in Div in Javascript

The JavaScript language lets you import text within a div container and manipulate the string. The "indexOf" function locates a character such as a caret and returns its coordinates. This function is useful if you have delimited data using the caret character. You can print out the location of the caret or use the returned integer for other string manipulation.

Instructions

1. Right-click the HTML file that contains your div container with the caret. Click "Open With" and select your HTML editor program.

2. Locate the div that contains your data. You need the "ID" value for the div to locate the caret character in JavaScript.

3. Create the JavaScript code that calls the "getElementById" function to retrieve the content of the div tag. The following code retrieves the element:

   div = document.getElementById("id");
   content = div.innerText;

   The code gets the div container named "id" and retrieves the content. The content is assigned to the "content" variable.

4. Retrieve the location of the caret character. The following code displays the location of the caret:

   document.write(content.indexOf("^"));

References

• Quirksmode: Strings