How do I find out which DOM element has the focus?

Question

I would like to find out, in JavaScript, which element currently has focus. I\'ve been looking through the DOM and haven\'t found what I need, yet. Is there a way to do this

Answer 1

Reading other answers, and trying myself, it seems document.activeElement will give you the element you need in most browsers.

If you have a browser that doesn't support document.activeElement if you have jQuery around, you should be able populate it on all focus events with something very simple like this (untested as I don't have a browser meeting those criteria to hand):

if (typeof document.activeElement === 'undefined') { // Check browser doesn't do it anyway
  $('*').live('focus', function () { // Attach to all focus events using .live()
    document.activeElement = this; // Set activeElement to the element that has been focussed
  });
}