HTML DOM removeEventListener() Method
Example
Remove a "mousemove" event that has been attached with the addEventListener() method:
// Attach an event handler to <div>
document.getElementById("myDIV").addEventListener("mousemove", myFunction);
// Remove the event handler from <div>
document.getElementById("myDIV").removeEventListener("mousemove", myFunction);
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Definition and Usage
The removeEventListener() method removes an event handler that has been attached with the addEventListener() method.
Note: To remove event handlers, the function specified with the addEventListener() method must be an external function, like in the example above (myFunction).
Anonymous functions, like "element.removeEventListener("event", function(){ myScript });" will not work.
Browser Support
The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the method.
| Method | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| removeEventListener() | 1.0 | 9.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.0 |
Syntax
element.removeEventListener(event, function, useCapture)
Parameter Values
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| event | Required. A String that specifies the name of the event to remove. Note: Do not use the "on" prefix. For example, use "click" instead of "onclick". Tip: For a list of all HTML DOM events, look at our complete HTML DOM Event Object Reference. |
| function | Required. Specifies the function to remove. |
| useCapture |
Optional. A Boolean value that specifies the event phase
to remove the event handler from. Possible values:
|
Technical Details
| DOM Version: | DOM Level 2 events |
|---|---|
| Return Value: | No return value |
| Changelog: | The useCapture parameter became optional in Firefox 6 and Opera 12.0 (has always been optional for Chrome, IE and Safari) |
More Examples
Example
For browsers that do not support the removeEventListener() method, you can use the detachEvent() method.
This example demonstrates a cross-browser solution:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
if (x.removeEventListener) { // For all major browsers, except IE 8 and earlier
x.removeEventListener("mousemove", myFunction);
} else if (x.detachEvent) { // For IE 8 and earlier versions
x.detachEvent("onmousemove", myFunction);
}
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Related Pages
JavaScript Tutorial: HTML DOM EventListener
JavaScript Reference: document.removeEventListener()
