Highlight text using jQuery and the HTML5 mark tag

Posted on by

Here’s a jQuery plugin I wrote that’ll add HTML5 <mark> tags around keywords or phrases in an element’s body text.

What is mark?

a run of text in one document marked or highlighted for reference purposes, due to its relevance in another context

http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/

Usage

Add the script to your page, and then when the DOM is ready, do something like:

    $('body').mark('Lorem ipsum');

The plugin can actually be used to wrap any tag around keywords. Simply pass the tag name you want to use as an option:

    $('body').mark({
      text: 'Lorem ipsum',
      tag:  'span',
      cssClass:  'mark'
    });

The above example will wrap span elements around the words lorem and ipsum. Each span element will have the class ‘mark’. View an example implementation.

TODO

  1. Input sanitation on the text to be marked. Currently the text is dumped straight into a regular expression. It needs to be escaped so that any regular expression meta-characters are interpreted as literals.
  2. Similarly, HTML special characters in the input need to be expanded into their HTML entities.
  3. From what I can see, IE doesn’t like <mark> tags, and seems to automatically self close the opening and closing tags inserted into the DOM. WTF? Can anyone shed any light on this problem? For now, you’re going to have to use a <span> with a CSS class

If you’re interested in contributing, get in touch

2,785 thoughts on “Highlight text using jQuery and the HTML5 mark tag”

  3. 我們的運彩世足專家團隊每日更新各大聯盟的比賽分析，包括NBA、MLB、中華職棒等。

  4. Hire the the top local roofers that is now available in addition with reasonably pricing now only!

  6. Pingback: bands to hire near me

  11. Pingback: cover band for party

  16. Pingback: function band uk

  21. Pingback: party bands near me

  26. Pingback: bands for hire near me

  31. Pingback: function band near me

  37. Pingback: wedding band london

  42. Pingback: corporate rock bands

  45. Find a top child support attorney cost currently now available and at reasonable prices now only!

  49. the best adult generator sex ai girlfriend create erotic videos images and virtual characters. flexible settings high quality instant results and easy operation right in your browser. the best features for porn generation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>