Instructions on creating a non-editable text area where only copying and pasting is allowed

I am looking to simply copy and paste content into a textarea without needing to make any edits within the field.

<form action="save.php" method="post">

  <h3>Text:</h3>


  <textarea name="text" rows="4" cols="50"></textarea>

  <br><br>

  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">

</form>

Answer №1

To restrict key presses to only ctrl+c, ctrl+v, or ctrl+x, follow these steps:

Allowed keys:

ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+x, as well as the Copy and Paste buttons on RightClick.

Restricted keys:

Everything

$('textarea').on('keydown', function(e) {
  var ctrl = e.ctrlKey ? e.ctrlKey : ((e.keyCode === 17) ? true : false);
  if (e.keyCode === 86 && ctrl || e.keyCode === 67 && ctrl || e.keyCode === 88 && ctrl) {
    return true;
  } else {
    return false;
  }
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<textarea name="text" rows="4" cols="50">Some Text</textarea>

Answer №2

Prevent editing in a textarea by disabling the keydown event and enabling the mousedown event. This way, users can only copy and paste without being able to make edits.

$(".area").bind("mousedown", function(e) {
  console.log('hello')
});
$(".area").bind("keydown", function(e) {
  console.log('world');
  event.preventDefault();
});
.touch {
  pointer-events: none;
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<h3>Text:</h3>


<textarea name="text" rows="4" cols="50" class="area"></textarea>

<br><br>

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">

Answer №3

To ensure that the keydown event is blocked on a textarea for all keyboard keypresses except for ctrl+c, ctrl+v, command+c, and command+v keys.

For Mac users, utilize event.metaKey to detect the command key.

Try copying text from the textarea using ctrl+c or pasting text inside it using ctrl+v

Stack Snippet

var textarea = document.getElementById("text");

textarea.addEventListener("keydown", function(event) {
  var key = event.key;
  var cmd_key = event.metaKey;
  var ctrl_key = event.ctrlKey;
  if ((cmd_key && key == "c") || (ctrl_key && key == "c")) {
    return true;
  } else if ((cmd_key && key == "v") || (ctrl_key && key == "v")) {
    return true;
  } else {
    event.preventDefault();
  }
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<form method="post">
  <h3>Text:</h3>
  <textarea id="text" name="text" rows="4" cols="50">Copy this text and paste</textarea>
  <br><br>
</form>

Answer №4

Building upon Abhishek Singh's demonstration; in ES6 utilizing arrow functions and jQuery, it can be expressed concisely like this:

$textarea = jQuery("<textarea>")
     .on("keypress", (e) => e.ctrlKey && e.key == "v")

(Similar scenario but using "c" to restrict anything other than copy)

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