Events - cut, copy, paste

cut, copy, paste

The cut, copy, and paste events fire when the user cuts, copies or pastes a text or image.

Event	IE 5.5	IE 6	IE 7	IE8rc1 as IE7	IE8rc1 as IE8	FF 2.0	FF 3.0	FF 3.1b2	Saf 3.0 Win	Saf 3.1 Win	iPhone 3G	Chrome 1.0	Opera 9.62	Opera 10a	Konqueror 3.5.7
On the window	No					No	Buggy		No	Incomplete	Untestable	Incomplete	No		No
On the window	See below for Firefox 3. Safari 3.1 and Crhome fire the events on the window only when you use `addEventListener`.
On the document	No					No	Buggy		Yes		Untestable	Yes	No		No
On the document	See below for Firefox 3.
On forms	Yes					No	Buggy		Yes		Untestable	Yes	No		No
On forms	See below for Firefox 3.
On text inputs	Yes					No	Buggy		Yes		Untestable	Yes	No		No
On text inputs	See below for Firefox 3.
Event	IE 5.5	IE 6	IE 7	IE8rc1 as IE7	IE8rc1 as IE8	FF 2.0	FF 3.0	FF 3.1b2	Saf 3.0 Win	Saf 3.1 Win	iPhone 3G	Chrome 1.0	Opera 9.62	Opera 10a	Konqueror 3.5.7
On images When you go to the context menu and select 'Copy image' or a similar command.	Yes					No			No		Untestable	No	No		No

On any element In general only the copy event should be available, since it's not possible to cut or paste text from or to, say, a paragraph.	Yes					No	Buggy		Yes		Untestable	Yes	No		No
	See below for Firefox 3.
Prevent default The point of these events: can you prevent a cut, copy or paste action from taking place?	Yes					Untestable	Yes		Almost		Untestable	Almost	Untestable		Untestable
	In Safari and Chrome the default of the copy event can be prevented, but the clipboard is emptied, while it should retain the previous value, as it does in IE and Firefox.
Event bubbling These events should bubble up.	Yes					Untestable	Yes		Yes		Untestable	Yes	Untestable		Untestable
Event bubbling These events should bubble up.
Cancel bubble	Yes					Untestable	Yes		Yes		Untestable	Yes	Untestable		Untestable
Cancel bubble
Event	IE 5.5	IE 6	IE 7	IE8rc1 as IE7	IE8rc1 as IE8	FF 2.0	FF 3.0	FF 3.1b2	Saf 3.0 Win	Saf 3.1 Win	iPhone 3G	Chrome 1.0	Opera 9.62	Opera 10a	Konqueror 3.5.7

Firefox bug

Firefox 3 has a lazy implementation: it fires these events whenever the user presses the Cut, Copy, or Paste shortcut keys, whether that action makes sense in a given context or not.

For instance, when you press [Ctrl | Cmd]+X while the focus is nowhere in particular and you have not selected any text, Firefox will fire a cut event, even though there's nothing to cut.

IE and Safari check if something is actually cut, copied or pasted before firing the events.

Related events

Event	IE 5.5	IE 6	IE 7	IE8rc1 as IE7	IE8rc1 as IE8	FF 2.0	FF 3.0	FF 3.1b2	Saf 3.0 Win	Saf 3.1 Win	iPhone 3G	Chrome 1.0	Opera 9.62	Opera 10a	Konqueror 3.5.7
beforecopy Test page.	Yes					No			No	Yes	Untestable	Yes	No		No
beforecopy Test page.	I do not understand the real purpose of these events. However, when the user calls up a context menu that contains cut, copy and paste actions, beforecut, beforecopy and beforepaste all fire.
beforecut Test page.	Yes					No			No	Yes	Untestable	Yes	No		No
beforecut Test page.	See beforecopy.
beforepaste Test page.	Yes					No			No	Incomplete	Untestable	Incomplete	No		No
beforepaste Test page.	See beforecopy. Safari 3.1 and Chrome do not fire this event before an actual paste action. It works fine on context menus.
Event	IE 5.5	IE 6	IE 7	IE8rc1 as IE7	IE8rc1 as IE8	FF 2.0	FF 3.0	FF 3.1b2	Saf 3.0 Win	Saf 3.1 Win	iPhone 3G	Chrome 1.0	Opera 9.62	Opera 10a	Konqueror 3.5.7

These compatibility tables are sponsored by