asked on

limit number of characters in <textarea>

Is there any way to limit number of character in <textarea> same as "maxlength" property in <input type="text" maxlength="50">? I need something to work exectly same way - no warnings and no alerts. Just prevent from additing more characters.

dij8

Not really. You could write a script that runs on keypress. It would have to check the length of the value of the text area and if it is longer than a specific limit it would then change the value to the first however many characters.

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function settalength(field) {
field.value = field.value.substr(0,50)
}
</script>
<textarea onkeypress="settalength(this)"></textarea>

Doing it this way will have the last character change as a new key is pressed. And note that hitting return is good for two characters (carriage return, line feed).

ClassyLinks

Here's a script that does limit the number of characters you can enter into a text box. It's a little longer than dij8's, but you can see a working demo of it too.

http://www.shiningstar.net/articles/articles/javascript/dynamictextareacounter.asp?ID=AW

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dij8

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shlomof

ASKER

ClassyLinks,

This script is doing exactly the same as dij8's. Thanks anyway.

shlomof

ASKER

thanks dij8!!!