Touch.target

The read-only target property of the Touch interface returns the (EventTarget) on which the touch contact started when it was first placed on the surface, even if the touch point has since moved outside the interactive area of that element or even been removed from the document. Note that if the target element is removed from the document, events will still be targeted at it, and hence won't necessarily bubble up to the window or document anymore. If there is any risk of an element being removed while it is being touched, the best practice is to attach the touch listeners directly to the target.

Syntax

var el = touchPoint.target;

Return value

The EventTarget the Touch object applies to.

Example

This example illustrates how to access the Touch object's Touch.target property. The Touch.target property is an Element (EventTarget) on which a touch point is started when contact is first placed on the surface.

In following simple code snippet, we assume the user initiates one or more touch contacts on the source element. When the touchstart event handler for this element is invoked, each touch point's Touch.target property is accessed via the event's TouchEvent.targetTouches list.

// Register a touchmove listener for the 'source' element
var src = document.getElementById("source");

src.addEventListener('touchstart', function(e) {
  // Iterate through the touch points that were activiated
  // for this element.
  for (var i=0; i < e.targetTouches.length; i++) {
    console.log("touchpoint[" + i + "].target = " + e.targetTouches[i].target);
  }
}, false);

Specifications

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
22
≤18
52
Touch events support has been fixed and reenabled in Windows desktop platforms.
18-24
Web compatibility issues seen in bug 888304.
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
6
Yes
Yes
Yes

© 2005–2021 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Touch/target