Copy / Put text on the clipboard with FireFox, Safari and Chrome

For security reasons, Firefox doesn't allow you to place text on the clipboard. However, there is a workaround available using Flash.

function copyIntoClipboard(text) {

    var flashId = 'flashId-HKxmj5';

    /* Replace this with your clipboard.swf location */
    var clipboardSWF = 'http://appengine.bravo9.com/copy-into-clipboard/clipboard.swf';

    if(!document.getElementById(flashId)) {
        var div = document.createElement('div');
        div.id = flashId;
        document.body.appendChild(div);
    }
    document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = '';
    var content = '<embed src="' +
        clipboardSWF +
        '" FlashVars="clipboard=' + encodeURIComponent(text) +
        '" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>';
    document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = content;
}

The only disadvantage is that this requires Flash to be enabled.

The source is currently dead: http://bravo9.com/journal/copying-text-into-the-clipboard-with-javascript-in-firefox-safari-ie-opera-292559a2-cc6c-4ebf-9724-d23e8bc5ad8a/ (and so is its Google cache)

Online spreadsheet applications hook Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V events and transfer focus to a hidden TextArea control and either set its contents to desired new clipboard contents for copy or read its contents after the event had finished for paste.

See also Is it possible to read the clipboard in Firefox, Safari and Chrome using JavaScript?.

Firefox does allow you to store data in the clipboard, but due to security implications it is disabled by default. See how to enable it in "Granting JavaScript access to the clipboard" in the Mozilla Firefox knowledge base.

The solution offered by amdfan is the best if you are having a lot of users and configuring their browser isn't an option. Though you could test if the clipboard is available and provide a link for changing the settings, if the users are tech savvy. The JavaScript editor TinyMCE follows this approach.

The copyIntoClipboard() function works for Flash 9, but it appears to be broken by the release of Flash player 10. Here's a solution that does work with the new flash player:

http://bowser.macminicolo.net/~jhuckaby/zeroclipboard/

It's a complex solution, but it does work.

I have to say that none of these solutions really work. I have tried the clipboard solution from the accepted answer, and it does not work with Flash Player 10. I have also tried ZeroClipboard, and I was very happy with it for awhile.

I'm currently using it on my own site (http://www.blogtrog.com), but I've been noticing weird bugs with it. The way ZeroClipboard works is that it puts an invisible flash object over the top of an element on your page. I've found that if my element moves (like when the user resizes the window and i have things right aligned), the ZeroClipboard flash object gets out of whack and is no longer covering the object. I suspect it's probably still sitting where it was originally. They have code that's supposed to stop that, or restick it to the element, but it doesn't seem to work well.

So... in the next version of BlogTrog, I guess I'll follow suit with all the other code highlighters I've seen out in the wild and remove my Copy to Clipboard button. :-(

(I noticed that dp.syntaxhiglighter's Copy to Clipboard is broken now also.)

A slight improvement on the Flash solution is to detect for Flash 10 using swfobject:

http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/

And then if it shows as Flash 10, try loading a Shockwave object using JavaScript. Shockwave can read/write to the clipboard (in all versions) as well using the copyToClipboard() command in Lingo.

Clipboard API is designed to supersede document.execCommand. Safari is still working on support, so you should provide a fallback until the specification settles and Safari finishes implementation.

const permalink = document.querySelector('[rel="bookmark"]');
const output = document.querySelector('output');
permalink.onclick = evt => {
  evt.preventDefault();
  window.navigator.clipboard.writeText(
    permalink.href
  ).then(() => {
    output.textContent = 'Copied';
  }, () => {
    output.textContent = 'Not copied';
  });
};

<a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127040/" rel="bookmark">Permalink</a>
<output></output>

For security reasons clipboard Permissions may be necessary to read and write from the clipboard. If the snippet doesn't work on Stack Overflow give it a shot on localhost or an otherwise trusted domain.

Building off the excellent answer from David from Studio.201, this works in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. It also ensures no flashing could occur from the textarea by placing it off-screen.

// ================================================================================
// ClipboardClass
// ================================================================================
var ClipboardClass = (function() {

    function copyText(text) {
        // Create temp element off-screen to hold text.
        var tempElem = $('<textarea style="position: absolute; top: -8888px; left: -8888px">');
        $("body").append(tempElem);

        tempElem.val(text).select();
        document.execCommand("copy");
        tempElem.remove();
    }


    // ============================================================================
    // Class API
    // ============================================================================
    return {
        copyText: copyText
    };
})();