Imagine you’re in school, reading your textbook. You pull out a yellow highlighter to mark important words. Now imagine that your highlighter is magical:

  • It not only highlights words, but also lets your computer know exactly what you selected.
  • The computer can then copy it, save it, or even replace it with something new.

That’s what the Selection API does in JavaScript—it’s like a magic highlighter for web pages.

What is the Selection API?

The Selection API allows you to:

  • Find out what text the user has selected (like highlighting text with a mouse).
  • Modify or replace that selection.
  • Copy or save the highlighted content.

Example

Let’s say you highlight text on a web page. JavaScript can check what you selected:

let selection = window.getSelection();
console.log(selection.toString());

If you highlighted the words “Hello World”, it will log:

Hello World

Cool Things You Can Do with It

  1. Copy-Paste Features → Apps can let you copy text into the clipboard.
  2. Search Tools → Highlight a word and instantly search it.
  3. Note Taking → Highlight sentences and save them into notes.
  4. Custom Highlighting → Replace boring yellow highlights with rainbow colors! 🌈

Real-Life Analogy

Think of the Selection API as a magical librarian:

  • You point at a sentence in a book.
  • The librarian instantly knows which sentence you pointed to.
  • She can copy it, save it to your notebook, or even replace it with another sentence!

In Short

  • Selection API = lets JavaScript know what text the user highlighted.
  • You can get, copy, or change that text.
  • It’s like a magic highlighter for web pages.

Review Questions

  1. The Selection API is like a magic __________ on a web page.
  2. The function window.getSelection() lets you get the current __________ text.
  3. selection.toString() converts the selected text into a __________.
  4. One cool use of the Selection API is making custom __________ colors.
  5. Apps can use the Selection API to copy text into the __________.
  6. The Selection API can tell JavaScript exactly what the __________ highlighted.
  7. A real-life analogy for the Selection API is a magical __________ who remembers sentences.
  8. The Selection API can be used to make __________ tools that search highlighted words.
  9. The Selection API helps in building note-taking apps by saving __________.
  10. The Selection API belongs to __________ (CSS, HTML, or JavaScript).
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