Range.extractContents()

The Range.extractContents() method moves contents of the Range from the document tree into a DocumentFragment.

Event listeners added using DOM Events are not retained during extraction. HTML attribute events are retained or duplicated as they are for the Node.cloneNode() method. HTML id attributes are also cloned, which can lead to an invalid document if a partially-selected node is extracted and appended to the document.

Partially selected nodes are cloned to include the parent tags necessary to make the document fragment valid.

Syntax

documentFragment = range.extractContents();

Example

Basic example

var range = document.createRange();
range.selectNode(document.getElementsByTagName("div").item(0));
var documentFragment = range.extractContents();
document.body.appendChild(documentFragment);

Moving items between containers

This example lets you move items between two containers. Select one or more item, and then click "swap" to move them to the opposite container.

HTML

<p id="list1">123456</p>
<button id="swap">Swap selected item(s)</button>
<p id="list2">abcdef</p>

CSS

body {
  pointer-events: none;
}

p {
  border: 1px solid;
  font-size: 2em;
  padding: .3em;
}

button {
  font-size: 1.2em;
  padding: .5em;
  pointer-events: auto;
}

JavaScript

const list1 = document.getElementById('list1');
const list2 = document.getElementById('list2');
const button = document.getElementById('swap');

button.addEventListener('click', e => {
  selection = window.getSelection();

  for (let i = 0; i < selection.rangeCount; i++) {
    const range = selection.getRangeAt(i);

    if (range.commonAncestorContainer === list1 ||
        range.commonAncestorContainer.parentNode === list1) {
      const documentFragment = range.extractContents();
      list2.appendChild(documentFragment);
    } else if (range.commonAncestorContainer === list2 ||
        range.commonAncestorContainer.parentNode === list2) {
      const documentFragment = range.extractContents();
      list1.appendChild(documentFragment);
    }
  }
});

Result

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard (DOM) # dom-range-extractcontents

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
`extractContents`	1	12	1	9	9	1	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0