The defaultPrevented event property

DOM Events Event Object

Definition and usage

The defaultPrevented event property checks if the preventDefault() method was called for the event The preventDefault() method.

.

Prevent the link from opening the URL and check if preventDefault() was called:

document.getElementById("myAnchor").addEventListener("click", function(event){
  event.preventDefault();
  alert("Was preventDefault() called: " + event.defaultPrevented);
});

Try it yourself

Syntax

event.defaultPrevented

Technical details

Return value:

A boolean value indicating whether the preventDefault() method was called for the event.

Possible values:

  • true - The preventDefault() method was called for the event
  • false - No preventDefault() method was called for this event
DOM Version: DOM Level 3 Events

Browser Support

The numbers in the table indicate the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Properties Chrome IE Firefox Safari Opera
defaultPrevented 18.0 9.0 6.0 5.0 11.0
DOM Events Event Object