Get Selected Value in Dropdown List Using JavaScript

Matthew C.

The Problem

You have a dropdown list, for example, the following <select> dropdown list:

    <select name="accommodation" id="accommodation-select">
      <option value="">--Please choose an option--</option>
      <option value="apartment">Apartment</option>
      <option value="house">House</option>
      <option value="other">Other</option>
    </select>

How do you get the selected value using JavaScript?

The Solution

Get the <select> element by using one of the methods on the document interface that returns a DOM Element, such getElementById. You can then get its value using the value property:

const accommodationSelect = document.getElementById("accommodation-select");
const value = accommodationSelect.value;

You can also add a “change” event listener to the <select> element and get its value each time a different item is selected from the dropdown list:

const accommodationSelect = document.getElementById("accommodation-select");
accommodationSelect.addEventListener("change", handleSelectChange);

function handleSelectChange(event) {
  const currentValue = event.target.value;
  console.log(currentValue);
}

You can get the selected value from the “change” event’s target property.