HTML DOM Select selectedIndex Property

# Select selectedIndex Property

Select Object

## Example

Select the <option> element with index "2":

document.getElementById("mySelect").selectedIndex = "2";
Try it yourself »

## Definition and Usage

The selectedIndex property sets or returns the index of the selected option in a drop-down list.

The index starts at 0.

Note: If the drop-down list allows multiple selections it will only return the index of the first option selected.

Note: The value "-1" will deselect all options (if any).

Note: If no option is selected, the selectedIndex property will return -1.

## Browser Support

The selectedIndex property is supported in all major browsers.

## Syntax

Return the selectedIndex property:

selectObject.selectedIndex

Set the selectedIndex property:

selectObject.selectedIndex=number

## Property Values

Value | Description
--- | ---
number | Specifies the index of the selected option in a drop-down list

## Technical Details

Return Value: | A Number, representing the index of the selected option in the drop-down list. The index starts at 0. If no option is selected, the value returned is -1

## More Examples

## Example

Display the index and text of the selected option in a drop-down list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").selectedIndex;
var y = document.getElementById("mySelect").options;
alert("Index: " + y[x].index + " is " + y[x].text);
Try it yourself »

## Example

Deselect all options:

document.getElementById("mySelect").selectedIndex = "-1";
Try it yourself »

## Example

The selectedIndex property will return "-1" if no options are selected:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").selectedIndex;
Try it yourself »

Select Object

### WEB HOSTING

UK Reseller Hosting

### WEB BUILDING

FREE Website BUILDER Free HTML5 Templates

### W3SCHOOLS EXAMS

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, XML, and ASP Certifications

### SHARE THIS PAGE

### Color Picker

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tutorial HTML5 Tutorial CSS Tutorial CSS3 Tutorial Bootstrap Tutorial

### JavaScript

JavaScript Tutorial jQuery Tutorial jQuery Mobile Tutorial AngularJS Tutorial AJAX Tutorial JSON Tutorial

### Graphics

Canvas Tutorial SVG Tutorial Google Maps Tutorial

### Server Side

SQL Tutorial PHP Tutorial ASP Tutorial ASP.NET Tutorial VBScript Tutorial AppML Tutorial

### Web

Web Building Web Statistics Web Certification

### XML

XML Tutorial DTD Tutorial Schema Tutorial XML DOM Tutorial XPath Tutorial XSLT Tutorial XQuery Tutorial XSL-FO Tutorial RSS Tutorial WSDL Tutorial

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tag Reference HTML Event Reference HTML Color Reference CSS 1,2,3 Reference Bootstrap Reference

### JavaScript

JavaScript Reference HTML DOM Reference jQuery Reference jQuery Mobile Reference Google Maps Reference

### Server Side

PHP Reference SQL Reference ASP Reference VBScript Reference Razor Reference ASP.NET Reference

### XML

XML DOM Reference XSLT Reference XSL-FO Reference XPath Reference XQuery Reference Schema Reference RSS Reference SVG Reference

### HTML Charsets

HTML Character Sets HTML ASCII HTML ANSI HTML Windows-1252 HTML ISO-8859-1 HTML Symbols HTML UTF-8

### HTML/CSS

HTML Examples CSS Examples

### Browser Scripting

JavaScript Examples HTML DOM Examples jQuery Examples jQuery Mobile Examples AngularJS Examples AJAX Examples

### Server Scripting

PHP Examples ASP Examples VBScript Examples Razor Examples .NET Examples

### XML Languages

XML Examples DTD Examples XML DOM Examples XSL Examples XSLT Examples XPath Examples XQuery Examples Schema Examples RSS Examples SVG Examples