jQuery bind to Paste Event, how to get the content of the paste

Question

I have a jquery token tagit plugin and I want to bind to the paste event to add items correctly.

I\'m able to bind to the paste event like so:

    .b         


        

Answer 1

You could compare the original value of the field and the changed value of the field and deduct the difference as the pasted value. This catches the pasted text correctly even if there is existing text in the field.

http://jsfiddle.net/6b7sK/

function text_diff(first, second) {
    var start = 0;
    while (start < first.length && first[start] == second[start]) {
        ++start;
    }
    var end = 0;
    while (first.length - end > start && first[first.length - end - 1] == second[second.length - end - 1]) {
        ++end;
    }
    end = second.length - end;
    return second.substr(start, end - start);
}
$('textarea').bind('paste', function () {
    var self = $(this);
    var orig = self.val();
    setTimeout(function () {
        var pasted = text_diff(orig, $(self).val());
        console.log(pasted);
    });
});