Event.target

The target property of the Event interface is a reference to the object onto which the event was dispatched. It is different from Event.currentTarget when the event handler is called during the bubbling or capturing phase of the event.

Syntax

const theTarget = someEvent.target;

Value

EventTarget

Example

The event.target property can be used in order to implement event delegation.

// Make a list
const ul = document.createElement('ul');
document.body.appendChild(ul);

const li1 = document.createElement('li');
const li2 = document.createElement('li');
ul.appendChild(li1);
ul.appendChild(li2);

function hide(evt) {
  // e.target refers to the clicked <li> element
  // This is different than e.currentTarget, which would refer to the parent <ul> in this context
  evt.target.style.visibility = 'hidden';
}

// Attach the listener to the list
// It will fire when each <li> is clicked
ul.addEventListener('click', hide, false);

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard (DOM) # ref-for-dom-event-target③

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	WebView Android	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet
`target`	1	12	1	9	7	1	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0