MouseEvent.relatedTarget

The MouseEvent.relatedTarget read-only property is the secondary target for the event, if there is one. That is:

Event name target relatedTarget
focusin The EventTarget receiving focus The EventTarget losing focus
focusout The EventTarget losing focus The EventTarget receiving focus
mouseenter The EventTarget the pointing device entered to The EventTarget the pointing device exited from
mouseleave The EventTarget the pointing device exited from The EventTarget the pointing device entered to
mouseout The EventTarget the pointing device exited from The EventTarget the pointing device entered to
mouseover The EventTarget the pointing device entered to The EventTarget the pointing device exited from
dragenter The EventTarget the pointing device entered to The EventTarget the pointing device exited from
dragexit The EventTarget the pointing device exited from The EventTarget the pointing device entered to

For events with no secondary target, relatedTarget returns null.

Syntax

var tgt = instanceOfMouseEvent.relatedTarget

Return value

An EventTarget object or null.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div > div {
  height: 128px;
  width: 128px;
}
#top    { background-color: red; }
#bottom { background-color: blue; }
</style>
<script>
function outListener(event) {
  console.log("exited " + event.target.id + " for " + event.relatedTarget.id);
}
function overListener(event) {
  console.log("entered " + event.target.id + " from " + event.relatedTarget.id);
}
function loadListener() {
  var top = document.getElementById("top"), 
      bottom = document.getElementById("bottom");
  top.addEventListener("mouseover", overListener);
  top.addEventListener("mouseout", outListener);
  bottom.addEventListener("mouseover", overListener);
  bottom.addEventListener("mouseout", outListener);
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="loadListener();">
<div id="outer">
  <div id="top"></div>
  <div id="bottom"></div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

View on JSFiddle

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification
The definition of 'MouseEvent.relatedTarget' in that specification.		 Working Draft No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification
The definition of 'MouseEvent.altkey' in that specification.		 Recommendation Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Feature Edge Firefox (Gecko) Chrome Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support (Yes) 48 (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)
Feature Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Android IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) ? ? ? ? ?

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

Tags: 
 Contributors to this page: pauln, libbymc, lanzkron, jrefano, teoli, kscarfone, Jeremie
 Last updated by: pauln,