JavaScript get word before cursor

Question

Okay, I\'ve been looking all over the web to find a solution but I couldn\'t find one, is there a way to get the word before the caret position in an editable div so a bit l

Answer 1

Here is a rough method using the Selection and Range objects.

function getWord() {
    var range = window.getSelection().getRangeAt(0);
    if (range.collapsed) {
        text = range.startContainer.textContent.substring(0, range.startOffset+1);
        return text.split(/\b/g).pop();
    }
    return '';
}

You can see it in action here: http://jsfiddle.net/ggfFw/1/. This will not work in IE. If you need IE support look at the Rangy library.