document.execCommand('copy') not working on Chrome

Question

On Chrome only document.execCommand(\'copy\') returns true but does not copy the text, it clears the clipboard.

I can\'t find anyone who\'s had the same pro

Answer 1

I am not really clear as to what really happens here...

It seems there is a mismatch as to what should be used between the value and the textContent properties of your textarea.
Chrome seems to always use value, while Firefox uses textContent.

btn.onclick = e => {
  const txt = document.createElement('textarea');
  document.body.appendChild(txt);
  txt.value = 'from value'; // chrome uses this
  txt.textContent = 'from textContent'; // FF uses this
  var sel = getSelection();
  var range = document.createRange();
  range.selectNode(txt);
  sel.removeAllRanges();
  sel.addRange(range);
  if(document.execCommand('copy')){
    console.log('copied');
  }
  document.body.removeChild(txt);
}

Copy!
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Since chrome doesn't look at the textContent property, Range#selectNodeContents will select nothing on this browser...

However, you can use Range#selectNode which should return the same result in this case, and will workaround the issue.

document.getElementById('btn').addEventListener('click', function(){
  var textarea = document.createElement('textarea');
  textarea.textContent = 'copied text';
  document.body.appendChild(textarea);

  var selection = document.getSelection();
  var range = document.createRange();
//  range.selectNodeContents(textarea);
  range.selectNode(textarea);
  selection.removeAllRanges();
  selection.addRange(range);

  console.log('copy success', document.execCommand('copy'));
  selection.removeAllRanges();

  document.body.removeChild(textarea);
  
})

copy
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