Implement an input with a mask

Question

I would like to implement a mask for a text input field which accepts a date. The masked value should display directly inside of the input.

Something like this:

<input type='text' value='____/__/__'>

I wrote the mask as a value in that example, but my intent is to allow people to write a date without typing / or - to separate months, years and days. The user should be able to enter numbers into the displayed field, while the mask enforces the format automatically as the user types.

I have seen this behavior on other sites, but I have no idea how it works or how to implement it myself.

Answer 1

Input masks can be implemented using a combination of the keyup event, and the HTMLInputElement value, selectionStart, and selectionEnd properties. Here's a very simple implementation which does some of what you want. It's certainly not perfect, but works well enough to demonstrate the principle:

Array.prototype.forEach.call(document.body.querySelectorAll("*[data-mask]"), applyDataMask);

function applyDataMask(field) {
    var mask = field.dataset.mask.split('');
    
    // For now, this just strips everything that's not a number
    function stripMask(maskedData) {
        function isDigit(char) {
            return /\d/.test(char);
        }
        return maskedData.split('').filter(isDigit);
    }
    
    // Replace `_` characters with characters from `data`
    function applyMask(data) {
        return mask.map(function(char) {
            if (char != '_') return char;
            if (data.length == 0) return char;
            return data.shift();
        }).join('')
    }
    
    function reapplyMask(data) {
        return applyMask(stripMask(data));
    }
    
    function changed() {   
        var oldStart = field.selectionStart;
        var oldEnd = field.selectionEnd;
        
        field.value = reapplyMask(field.value);
        
        field.selectionStart = oldStart;
        field.selectionEnd = oldEnd;
    }
    
    field.addEventListener('click', changed)
    field.addEventListener('keyup', changed)
}

ISO Date: <input type="text" value="____-__-__" data-mask="____-__-__"/><br/>
Telephone: <input type="text" value="(___) ___-____" data-mask="(___) ___-____"/><br/>

(View in JSFiddle)

There are also a number of libraries out there which perform this function. Some examples include:

• jquery.inputmask
• MASKED INPUT PLUGIN
• Politespace (presents an alternative to input masks)