Copy text to clipboard in JS(two ways)

Of course the user can just select the text and copy it but giving them a button that they can click to copy it seems like a better idea(better UX). So in this article I will show you how you can copy text to clipboard using JavaScript.

1. Old method

the old way to copy text to clipboard is

• create a textarea(Or input)
• put the text you want to copy in that textarea
• add textarea to your page
• select the text in textarea
• execute copy command
• remove it from your page

function copyToClipboard(text){    const textArea = document.createElement("textarea")    textArea.value = text    document.body.appendChild(textArea)    textArea.focus()    textArea.select()    document.execCommand('copy')    document.body.removeChild(textArea)}

2. New method

For newer browsers we can simply use the navigator.clipboard to copy text

function copyToClipboard(text){    navigator.clipboard.writeText(text)}

3. Bonus

Now we can combine these two approach and create a function that would use the navigator.clipboard in modern browsers and fall back to old approach when needed

function copyToClipboard(text){    if(navigator.clipboard){        navigator.clipboard.writeText(text)        return //codes below wont be executed    }    const textArea = document.createElement("textarea")    textArea.value = text    document.body.appendChild(textArea)    textArea.focus()    textArea.select()    document.execCommand('copy')    document.body.removeChild(textArea)}

Make sure you check out my other articles and YouTube channel.

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#javascript #webdev #tutorial #beginners