Searching for text: JavaScript

Searching for text

Question: How do I search for a particular text string on the page?

Answer: In several browsers (Netscape Navigator, Firefox, Google Chrome), to search for a string programmatically, you can use the window.find(string) method; see also Find Dialog. Internet Explorer does not support this method. However, in Internet Explorer 4.x and newer, you can create a text range object (TRange in the example below) and use the method TRange.findText(string).

Example: The following script gets a text string from the user and then finds and highlights this string on the page.

This example has been created using the following code:

<form name="f1" action="" 
onSubmit="if(this.t1.value!=null && this.t1.value!='')
findString(this.t1.value);return false"
>
<input type="text" name=t1 value="" size=20>
<input type="submit" name=b1 value="Find">
</form>

<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
var TRange=null

function findString (str) {
 if (parseInt(navigator.appVersion)<4) return;
 var strFound;
 if (window.find) {

  // CODE FOR BROWSERS THAT SUPPORT window.find

  strFound=self.find(str);
  if (strFound && self.getSelection && !self.getSelection().anchorNode) {
   strFound=self.find(str)
  }
  if (!strFound) {
   strFound=self.find(str,0,1)
   while (self.find(str,0,1)) continue
  }
 }
 else if (navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft")!=-1) {

  // EXPLORER-SPECIFIC CODE

  if (TRange!=null) {
   TRange.collapse(false)
   strFound=TRange.findText(str)
   if (strFound) TRange.select()
  }
  if (TRange==null || strFound==0) {
   TRange=self.document.body.createTextRange()
   strFound=TRange.findText(str)
   if (strFound) TRange.select()
  }
 }
 else if (navigator.appName=="Opera") {
  alert ("Opera browsers not supported, sorry...")
  return;
 }
 if (!strFound) alert ("String '"+str+"' not found!")
 return;
}
//-->
</script>