Element: scrollWidth property - Web APIs | MDN

Value

An integer.

Examples

Detecting overflowing content

In this example, we use the scrollWidth property to check if the content of an element is overflowing its boundaries. We have two div elements, the first with a width of 100px, and the second without a fixed width. Their content is exactly the same, and we display a message about whether each one is overflowing its container.

HTML

html

<div id="div1">FooBar-FooBar-FooBar-FooBar</div>
<button id="button1">Check for overflow</button>
<pre id="log1"></pre>
<div id="div2">FooBar-FooBar-FooBar-FooBar</div>
<button id="button2">Check for overflow</button>
<pre id="log2"></pre>

CSS

css

div {
  padding: 0.15em;
  overflow: hidden;
  white-space: nowrap;
  text-overflow: ellipsis;
}

button {
  margin: 0.15em 0 0.5em 0;
}

pre {
  margin: 0.5em 0;
}

#div1 {
  width: 100px;
}

#log1 {
  margin-bottom: 2em;
}

JavaScript

js

const button1 = document.getElementById("button1");
const button2 = document.getElementById("button2");

const div1 = document.getElementById("div1");
const div2 = document.getElementById("div2");

const log1 = document.getElementById("log1");
const log2 = document.getElementById("log2");

// Check if the scrollWidth is bigger than the clientWidth or not
function isOverflowing(element) {
  return element.scrollWidth > element.clientWidth;
}

function checkOverflow(element, log) {
  if (isOverflowing(element)) {
    log.innerText = `Content is overflowing, scrollWidth is ${element.scrollWidth}px`;
  } else {
    log.innerText = `No overflows, scrollWidth is ${element.scrollWidth}px`;
  }
}

button1.addEventListener("click", () => {
  checkOverflow(div1, log1);
});

button2.addEventListener("click", () => {
  checkOverflow(div2, log2);
});

Result

Click the buttons to check if the content is overflowing the containers.

Specifications

Specification
CSSOM View Module
# dom-element-scrollwidth

Browser compatibility

See also

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