JavaScript Mouse Events

Mouse Events happen when the user interacts with the mouse.

Common Mouse Events:

click
dblclick
mouseover / mouseout
mousemove
mousedown / mouseup

Note

Mouse events are crucial for creating interactive web pages and applications, triggering specific functions in response to user actions like mouse clicks, scrolls, and movements.

Mouseover and Mouseout

Example

<div id="box" style="width:200px;height:100px;padding:16px;border:1px solid #000;">
Move mouse over this box
</div>

<script>
const box = document.getElementById("box");

// Let box listen for mouseover
box.addEventListener("mouseover", function () {
box.innerHTML = "Mouse is over me!";
});

// Let box listen for mouseout
box.addEventListener("mouseout", function () {
box.innerHTML = "Move is out!";
});
</script>

Try it Yourself »

Common Mouse Events

click
Fires after both a mousedown and mouseup event occur on the same element with the main mouse button (usually the left).
dblclick
Fires after two rapid clicks on the same element.
mousedown / mouseup
These events fire when a mouse button is pressed down (mousedown) or released (mouseup) over an element, respectively.
mousemove
Fires continuously as the mouse pointer moves over an element, providing positional information (coordinates) about the cursor.
mouseover
Fires when the pointer moves over an element (or one of its children).
mouseout
Fires when the pointer leaves an element.
mouseenter
Similar to mouseover, but fire when the pointer enters an element, not its descendants, making it more sensible for use cases like CSS :hover behavior.
mouseleave
Similar to mouseout, but fire when the pointer leaves an element, not its descendants, making it more sensible for use cases like CSS :hover behavior.
contextmenu
Fires when the user attempts to open the context menu, typically by right-clicking.
wheel
Fires when the mouse wheel is rotated, commonly used for scrolling or zooming functionality.
drag events
A series of events (dragstart, dragend, dragover, etc.) used for implementing drag-and-drop interfaces.

Mouse Position

The MouseEvent interface provides an event object which contains useful properties like pointer coordinates, which mouse button are pressed, and more.

Example

Using event.clientX and event.clientY

<p id="demo">Move the mouse in this window!</p>

<script>
// Let document listen for mousemove
document.addEventListener("mousemove", function (event) {
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML =
"X: " + event.clientX + " Y: " + event.clientY;
});
</script>

Try it Yourself »