Latest web development tutorials
 

MouseEvent buttons Property

< Event Object

Example

Find out which mouse button(s) that was pressed when a mouse event was triggered:

var x = event.buttons;
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The buttons property returns a number that indicates which mouse button or mouse buttons were pressed when a mouse event was triggered.

This property is mostly used together with the onmousedown event.

Tip: Due to lack of browser support, you may want to look at the button property instead.

Note: This property is read-only.


Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
buttons Not supported 9.0 Yes Not supported Not supported

Syntax

event.buttons

Technical Details

Return Value: A Number, representing one or more mouse buttons that were pressed when the mouse event occured. If more than one button is pressed, the values are combined to produce a new number (For example, if the left button (1) and the right button (2) are pressed, the returned value is 1+2, which is 3).

Possible values:
  • 1 : Left mouse button
  • 2 : Right mouse button
  • 4 : Wheel button or middle button
  • 8 : Fourth mouse button (typically the "Browser Back" button)
  • 16 : Fifth mouse button (typically the "Browser Forward" button)
Note: For a left-hand configured mouse, the return values are reversed
DOM Version: DOM Level 3 Events

Related Pages

HTML DOM reference: MouseEvent button Property

HTML DOM reference: MouseEvent which Property


< Event Object