---
title: EventTarget
slug: Web/API/EventTarget
tags:
  - API
  - DOM
  - DOM Events
  - Interface
  - NeedsTranslation
  - TopicStub
translation_of: Web/API/EventTarget
---
<p>{{ApiRef("DOM Events")}}</p>

<p><code>EventTarget</code> is an interface implemented by objects that can receive events and may have listeners for them.</p>

<p>{{domxref("Element")}}, {{domxref("document")}}, and {{domxref("window")}} are the most common event targets, but other objects can be event targets too, for example {{domxref("XMLHttpRequest")}}, {{domxref("AudioNode")}}, {{domxref("AudioContext")}}, and others.</p>

<p>Many event targets (including elements, documents, and windows) also support setting <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events/Event_handlers">event handlers</a> via <code>on...</code> properties and attributes.</p>

<h2 id="Methods">Methods</h2>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.addEventListener()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Register an event handler of a specific event type on the <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.removeEventListener()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Removes an event listener from the <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.dispatchEvent()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Dispatch an event to this <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
</dl>

<h3 id="Additional_methods_for_Mozilla_chrome_code">Additional methods for Mozilla chrome code</h3>

<p>Mozilla extensions for use by JS-implemented event targets to implement on* properties. See also <a href="/en-US/docs/Mozilla/WebIDL_bindings">WebIDL bindings</a>.</p>

<ul>
 <li>void <strong>setEventHandler</strong>(DOMString type, EventHandler handler) {{non-standard_inline}}</li>
 <li>EventHandler <strong>getEventHandler</strong>(DOMString type) {{non-standard_inline}}</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="Example">Example:</h2>

<h3 id="_Simple_implementation_of_EventTarget" name="_Simple_implementation_of_EventTarget">Simple implementation of EventTarget</h3>

<pre class="brush: js">var EventTarget = function() {
  this.listeners = {};
};

EventTarget.prototype.listeners = null;
EventTarget.prototype.addEventListener = function(type, callback) {
  if(!(type in this.listeners)) {
    this.listeners[type] = [];
  }
  this.listeners[type].push(callback);
};

EventTarget.prototype.removeEventListener = function(type, callback) {
  if(!(type in this.listeners)) {
    return;
  }
  var stack = this.listeners[type];
  for(var i = 0, l = stack.length; i &lt; l; i++) {
    if(stack[i] === callback){
      stack.splice(i, 1);
      return this.removeEventListener(type, callback);
    }
  }
};

EventTarget.prototype.dispatchEvent = function(event) {
  if(!(event.type in this.listeners)) {
    return;
  }
  var stack = this.listeners[event.type];
  event.target = this;
  for(var i = 0, l = stack.length; i &lt; l; i++) {
      stack[i].call(this, event);
  }
};
</pre>

{{ EmbedLiveSample('_Simple_implementation_of_EventTarget') }}

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM WHATWG', '#interface-eventtarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>No change.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM3 Events', 'DOM3-Events.html#interface-EventTarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM3 Events')}}</td>
   <td>A few parameters are now optional (<code>listener</code>), or accepts the <code>null</code> value (<code>useCapture</code>).</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM2 Events', 'events.html#Events-EventTarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM2 Events')}}</td>
   <td>Initial definition.</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>

<p>{{CompatibilityTable}}</p>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari (WebKit)</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoDesktop("1")}}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>7</td>
   <td>1.0<sup>[1]</sup></td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>IE Mobile</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoMobile("1")}}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>6.0</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<p>[1] <code>window.EventTarget</code> does not exist.</p>

<h2 id="See_Also">See Also</h2>

<ul>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Reference/Events">Event reference</a> - the events available in the platform.</li>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events">Event developer guide</a></li>
 <li>{{domxref("Event")}} interface</li>
</ul>