The Document.characterSet read-only property returns the character encoding of the current document. The character encoding is the character set used for rendering the document, which may be different from the encoding specified by the page. (The user can override the encoding.).

The properties document.charset and document.inputEncoding are legacy aliases for document.characterSet. Do not use them anymore.

Syntax

var string = document.characterSet

Examples

<button onclick="alert(document.characterSet);">Show character set</button>
// returns document's character set, such as "ISO-8859-1" or "UTF-8"

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
DOM
The definition of 'characterSet' in that specification.
Living Standard Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 45.0 (Yes) ? ? ?
charset Made read-only in 45 44 (44) ? ? ?
Feature Android Android Webview Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile Chrome for Android
Basic support Not supported 45.0 (Yes) (Yes) ? ? ? 45.0
charset ? ? 44.0 (44) 2.5 ? ? ? ?

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: fscholz,