Document: queryCommandState() method

Deprecated: This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

Non-standard: This feature is not standardized. We do not recommend using non-standard features in production, as they have limited browser support, and may change or be removed. However, they can be a suitable alternative in specific cases where no standard option exists.

Note: Although the execCommand() method is deprecated, there are still some valid use cases that do not yet have viable alternatives, as mentioned in the execCommand() article. In these cases, you may find this method useful to implement a complete user experience, but test to ensure cross-browser compatibility.

The queryCommandState() method will tell you if the current selection has a certain Document.execCommand() command applied.

html
<div contenteditable="true">Select a part of this text!</div>
<button>Test the state of the 'bold' command</button>
<hr />
<div id="output"></div>

hr,
button {
  margin: 1rem 0;
}

JavaScript

js
function makeBold() {
  const state = document.queryCommandState("bold");
  let message;
  switch (state) {
    case true:
      message = "The bold formatting will be removed from the selected text.";
      break;
    case false:
      message = "The selected text will be displayed in bold.";
      break;
    default:
      message = "The state of the 'bold' command is indeterminable.";
      break;
  }
  document.querySelector("#output").textContent = `Output: ${message}`;
  document.execCommand("bold");
}

document.querySelector("button").addEventListener("click", makeBold);

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Document: queryCommandState() method

In this article

Syntax

Parameters

Return value

Example

HTML

JavaScript

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

Help improve MDN