[javascript] Get the Highlighted/Selected text

Is it possible to get the highlighted text in a paragraph of a website e.g. by using jQuery?

This solution works if you're using chrome (can't verify other browsers) and if the text is located in the same DOM Element:

window.getSelection().anchorNode.textContent.substring(
  window.getSelection().extentOffset, 
  window.getSelection().anchorOffset)

Yes you can do it with simple JavaScript snippet:

document.addEventListener('mouseup', event => {  
    if(window.getSelection().toString().length){
       let exactText = window.getSelection().toString();        
    }
}

Get highlighted text this way:

window.getSelection().toString()

and of course a special treatment for ie:

document.selection.createRange().htmlText

Use window.getSelection().toString().

You can read more on developer.mozilla.org

Getting the text the user has selected is relatively simple. There's no benefit to be gained by involving jQuery since you need nothing other than the window and document objects.

function getSelectionText() {
    var text = "";
    if (window.getSelection) {
        text = window.getSelection().toString();
    } else if (document.selection && document.selection.type != "Control") {
        text = document.selection.createRange().text;
    }
    return text;
}

If you're interested in an implementation that will also deal with selections in <textarea> and texty <input> elements, you could use the following. Since it's now 2016 I'm omitting the code required for IE <= 8 support but I've posted stuff for that in many places on SO.

function getSelectionText() {_x000D_
    var text = "";_x000D_
    var activeEl = document.activeElement;_x000D_
    var activeElTagName = activeEl ? activeEl.tagName.toLowerCase() : null;_x000D_
    if (_x000D_
      (activeElTagName == "textarea") || (activeElTagName == "input" &&_x000D_
      /^(?:text|search|password|tel|url)$/i.test(activeEl.type)) &&_x000D_
      (typeof activeEl.selectionStart == "number")_x000D_
    ) {_x000D_
        text = activeEl.value.slice(activeEl.selectionStart, activeEl.selectionEnd);_x000D_
    } else if (window.getSelection) {_x000D_
        text = window.getSelection().toString();_x000D_
    }_x000D_
    return text;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
document.onmouseup = document.onkeyup = document.onselectionchange = function() {_x000D_
  document.getElementById("sel").value = getSelectionText();_x000D_
};

Selection:_x000D_
<br>_x000D_
<textarea id="sel" rows="3" cols="50"></textarea>_x000D_
<p>Please select some text.</p>_x000D_
<input value="Some text in a text input">_x000D_
<br>_x000D_
<input type="search" value="Some text in a search input">_x000D_
<br>_x000D_
<input type="tel" value="4872349749823">_x000D_
<br>_x000D_
<textarea>Some text in a textarea</textarea>