HTMLSelectElement

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

TheHTMLSelectElement interface represents a<select> HTML Element. These elements also share all of the properties and methods of other HTML elements via theHTMLElement interface.

Instance properties

This interface inherits the properties ofHTMLElement, and ofElement andNode.

HTMLSelectElement.autocomplete: A string value reflecting theautocomplete, which indicates whether the value of the control can be automatically completed by the browser.
HTMLSelectElement.disabled: A boolean value reflecting thedisabled HTML attribute, which indicates whether the control is disabled. If it is disabled, it does not accept clicks.
HTMLSelectElement.formRead only: AnHTMLFormElement referencing the form that this element is associated with. If the element is not associated with of a<form> element, then it returnsnull.
HTMLSelectElement.labelsRead only: ANodeList of<label> elements associated with the element.
HTMLSelectElement.length: Anunsigned long The number of<option> elements in thisselect element.
HTMLSelectElement.multiple: A boolean value reflecting themultiple HTML attribute, which indicates whether multiple items can be selected.
HTMLSelectElement.name: A string reflecting thename HTML attribute, containing the name of this control used by servers and DOM search functions.
HTMLSelectElement.optionsRead only: AnHTMLOptionsCollection representing the set of<option> (HTMLOptionElement) elements contained by this element.
HTMLSelectElement.required: A boolean value reflecting therequired HTML attribute, which indicates whether the user is required to select a value before submitting the form.
HTMLSelectElement.selectedIndex: Along reflecting the index of the first selected<option> element. The value-1 indicates no element is selected.
HTMLSelectElement.selectedOptionsRead only: AnHTMLCollection representing the set of<option> elements that are selected.
HTMLSelectElement.size: Along reflecting thesize HTML attribute, which contains the number of visible items in the control. The default is 1, unlessmultiple istrue, in which case it is 4.
HTMLSelectElement.typeRead only: A string representing the form control's type. Whenmultiple istrue, it returns"select-multiple"; otherwise, it returns"select-one".
HTMLSelectElement.validationMessageRead only: A string representing a localized message that describes the validation constraints that the control does not satisfy (if any). This attribute is the empty string if the control is not a candidate for constraint validation (willValidate is false), or it satisfies its constraints.
HTMLSelectElement.validityRead only: AValidityState reflecting the validity state that this control is in.
HTMLSelectElement.value: A string reflecting the value of the form control. Returns thevalue property of the first selected option element if there is one, otherwise the empty string.
HTMLSelectElement.willValidateRead only: A boolean value that indicates whether the button is a candidate for constraint validation. It isfalse if any conditions bar it from constraint validation.

Instance methods

This interface inherits the methods ofHTMLElement, and ofElement andNode.

HTMLSelectElement.add(): Adds an element to the collection ofoption elements for thisselect element.
HTMLSelectElement.checkValidity(): Checks whether the element has any constraints and whether it satisfies them. If the element fails its constraints, the browser fires a cancelableinvalid event at the element (and returnsfalse).
HTMLSelectElement.item(): Gets an item from the options collection for this<select> element. You can also access an item by specifying the index in square brackets or parentheses, without calling this method explicitly.
HTMLSelectElement.namedItem(): Gets the item in the options collection with the specified name. The name string can match either theid or thename attribute of an option node. You can also access an item by specifying the name in square brackets or parentheses, without calling this method explicitly.
HTMLSelectElement.remove(): Removes the element at the specified index from the options collection for thisselect element.
HTMLSelectElement.reportValidity(): This method reports the problems with the constraints on the element, if any, to the user. If there are problems, it fires a cancelableinvalid event at the element, and returnsfalse; if there are no problems, it returnstrue.
HTMLSelectElement.setCustomValidity(): Sets the custom validity message for the selection element to the specified message. Use the empty string to indicate that the element doesnot have a custom validity error.
showPicker(): Shows the option picker.

Events

This interface inherits the events ofHTMLElement, and ofElement andNode.

Listen to these events usingaddEventListener() or by assigning an event listener to theoneventname property of this interface:

change event: Fires when the user selects an option.
input event: Fires when thevalue of an<input>,<select>, or<textarea> element has been changed.

Example

Get information about the selected option

/* assuming we have the following HTML<select id='s'>    <option>First</option>    <option selected>Second</option>    <option>Third</option></select>*/const select = document.getElementById("s");// return the index of the selected optionconsole.log(select.selectedIndex); // 1// return the value of the selected optionconsole.log(select.options[select.selectedIndex].value); // Second

A better way to track changes to the user's selection is to watch for thechange event to occur on the<select>. This will tell you when the value changes, and you can then update anything you need to. Seethe example provided in the documentation for thechange event for details.