Get and set caret / cursor position in any text field (input, textarea, etc.)

README.md

caret.js

Get and set the caret / cursor position in a text field (textarea, input, etc.). Tested on a few modern browsers and works as advertised.

namespace.getCaretPosition(el)

Get the caret position in el.

namespace.setCaretPosition(el, pos)

Set the caret position in el to position pos.

caret-jquery.js

(function(ns) {

    $.fn.getCaretPosition = function() {
        return ns.getCaretPosition($(this).get(0));
    }
    
    $.fn.setCaretPosition = function() {
        return ns.getCaretPosition($(this).get(0));
    }

})(window.namespace = window.namespace || {});

caret.js

(function(ns) {

    ns.getCaretPosition = function(el) {
        // Normal browsers
        if (el.selectionStart !== undefined) {
            return el.selectionStart;
        }

        // IE
        else if (document.selection) {
            el.focus();
            var range = document.selection.createRange();
            range.moveStart('character', -el.value.length);
            return range.text.length;
        }

        else {
            console.log('getCaretPosition: no support for browser');
        }

        return -1;
    }

    ns.setCaretPosition = function(el, pos) {
        // Normal browsers
        if (el.setSelectionRange !== undefined) {
            el.focus();
            el.setSelectionRange(pos, pos);
        }

        // IE
        else if (el.createTextRange) {
            var range = el.createTextRange();
            range.move('character', pos);
            range.select();
        }

        else {
            console.log('setCaretPosition: no support for browser');
        }
    }
})(window.namespace = window.namespace || {});