633

How can a checkbox be checked/unchecked using JavaScript?

John
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lisovaccaro
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    possible duplicate of [modify checkbox using javascript](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4733114/modify-checkbox-using-javascript) – mauris Nov 21 '11 at 02:17

12 Answers12

1143

Javascript:

// Check
document.getElementById("checkbox").checked = true;

// Uncheck
document.getElementById("checkbox").checked = false;

jQuery (1.6+):

// Check
$("#checkbox").prop("checked", true);

// Uncheck
$("#checkbox").prop("checked", false);

jQuery (1.5-):

// Check
$("#checkbox").attr("checked", true);

// Uncheck
$("#checkbox").attr("checked", false);
Martijn Pieters
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Alex Peattie
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  • Using .prop doesn't seem to work with Jquery 1.11.2 in Firefox with locally hosted files. .attr does. I've not tested more fully. Here's the code: ``` personContent.find("[data-name='" + pass.name + "']").children('input').attr('checked', true); ``` – Andrew Downes Mar 27 '15 at 10:27
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    Should we rather use `attr` or `prop` ? – Black Aug 30 '16 at 07:31
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    Apparently `.checked = true/false` doesn't trigger the `change` event :-\ – leaf Mar 01 '19 at 09:13
  • you are right. that is my bad entirely. sorry about that – albert Sep 18 '19 at 20:29
158

Important behaviour that has not yet been mentioned:

Programmatically setting the checked attribute, does not fire the change event of the checkbox.

See for yourself in this fiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/fjaeger/L9z9t04p/4/

(Fiddle tested in Chrome 46, Firefox 41 and IE 11)

The click() method

Some day you might find yourself writing code, which relies on the event being fired. To make sure the event fires, call the click() method of the checkbox element, like this:

document.getElementById('checkbox').click();

However, this toggles the checked status of the checkbox, instead of specifically setting it to true or false. Remember that the change event should only fire, when the checked attribute actually changes.

It also applies to the jQuery way: setting the attribute using prop or attr, does not fire the change event.

Setting checked to a specific value

You could test the checked attribute, before calling the click() method. Example:

function toggle(checked) {
  var elm = document.getElementById('checkbox');
  if (checked != elm.checked) {
    elm.click();
  }
}

Read more about the click method here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement/click

sudoqux
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    That's a good answer but personally I would prefer to fire the change event instead of calling the click() `elm.dispatchEvent(new Event('change'));` – Victor Sharovatov Feb 06 '16 at 08:48
  • @VictorSharovatov Why would you prefer to fire the change event? – PeterCo Dec 05 '16 at 11:28
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    I can agree only partially - many web browsers with AdBlocks are defending DOM from virtual clicking() due to unwanted actions from ads – pkolawa Sep 12 '17 at 08:36
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    @PeterCo: Probably because it more-clearly portrays intent -- click the element to fire the change event versus dispatch a change event to fire a change event -- indirect (click triggers change) versus direct. The latter is considerably clearer and doesn't require the reader to know that a click fires a change. – Bill Dagg Mar 28 '19 at 19:34
39

to check:

document.getElementById("id-of-checkbox").checked = true;

to uncheck:

document.getElementById("id-of-checkbox").checked = false;
2540625
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topherg
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18

We can checked a particulate checkbox as,

$('id of the checkbox')[0].checked = true

and uncheck by ,

$('id of the checkbox')[0].checked = false
Amit Joki
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AKS
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    You really don't need the array index if you are only selecting one element. But I guess if you want to be explicit. haha – Rizowski Apr 22 '15 at 18:46
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    @Rizowski You do need the index to get the native html element - jQuery objects don't have a "checked" property – Henrik Christensen Sep 07 '15 at 11:55
  • This has worked for me. Without the array index, I were getting undefined error. Thanks so much, saved my day. – Neri Apr 15 '18 at 12:37
15

I would like to note, that setting the 'checked' attribute to a non-empty string leads to a checked box.

So if you set the 'checked' attribute to "false", the checkbox will be checked. I had to set the value to the empty string, null or the boolean value false in order to make sure the checkbox was not checked.

Jan Rasehorn
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11

Try This:

//Check
document.getElementById('checkbox').setAttribute('checked', 'checked');

//UnCheck
document.getElementById('chk').removeAttribute('checked');
7
function setCheckboxValue(checkbox,value) {
    if (checkbox.checked!=value)
        checkbox.click();
}
kandi
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6
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $('.selecctall').click(function (event) {
            if (this.checked) {
                $('.checkbox1').each(function () {
                    this.checked = true;
                });
            } else {
                $('.checkbox1').each(function () {
                    this.checked = false;
                });
            }
        });

    });

</script>
M.Owais
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3

If, for some reason, you don't want to (or can't) run a .click() on the checkbox element, you can simply change its value directly via its .checked property (an IDL attribute of <input type="checkbox">).

Note that doing so does not fire the normally related event (change) so you'll need to manually fire it to have a complete solution that works with any related event handlers.

Here's a functional example in raw javascript (ES6):

class ButtonCheck {
  constructor() {
    let ourCheckBox = null;
    this.ourCheckBox = document.querySelector('#checkboxID');

    let checkBoxButton = null;
    this.checkBoxButton = document.querySelector('#checkboxID+button[aria-label="checkboxID"]');

    let checkEvent = new Event('change');
    
    this.checkBoxButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
      let checkBox = this.ourCheckBox;

      //toggle the checkbox: invert its state!
      checkBox.checked = !checkBox.checked;

      //let other things know the checkbox changed
      checkBox.dispatchEvent(checkEvent);
    }.bind(this), true);

    this.eventHandler = function(e) {
      document.querySelector('.checkboxfeedback').insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', '<br />Event occurred on checkbox! Type: ' + e.type + ' checkbox state now: ' + this.ourCheckBox.checked);

    }


    //demonstration: we will see change events regardless of whether the checkbox is clicked or the button

    this.ourCheckBox.addEventListener('change', function(e) {
      this.eventHandler(e);
    }.bind(this), true);

    //demonstration: if we bind a click handler only to the checkbox, we only see clicks from the checkbox

    this.ourCheckBox.addEventListener('click', function(e) {
      this.eventHandler(e);
    }.bind(this), true);


  }
}

var init = function() {
  const checkIt = new ButtonCheck();
}

if (document.readyState != 'loading') {
  init;
} else {
  document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', init);
}
<input type="checkbox" id="checkboxID" />

<button aria-label="checkboxID">Change the checkbox!</button>

<div class="checkboxfeedback">No changes yet!</div>

If you run this and click on both the checkbox and the button you should get a sense of how this works.

Note that I used document.querySelector for brevity/simplicity, but this could easily be built out to either have a given ID passed to the constructor, or it could apply to all buttons that act as aria-labels for a checkbox (note that I didn't bother setting an id on the button and giving the checkbox an aria-labelledby, which should be done if using this method) or any number of other ways to expand this. The last two addEventListeners are just to demo how it works.

taswyn
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3

For single check try

myCheckBox.checked=1
<input type="checkbox" id="myCheckBox"> Call to her

for multi try

document.querySelectorAll('.imChecked').forEach(c=> c.checked=1)
Buy wine: <input type="checkbox" class="imChecked"><br>
Play smooth-jazz music: <input type="checkbox"><br>
Shave: <input type="checkbox" class="imChecked"><br>
Kamil Kiełczewski
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2

I agree with the current answers, but in my case it does not work, I hope this code help someone in the future:

// check
$('#checkbox_id').click()
Udhav Sarvaiya
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-2

vanilla (PHP) will check box on and off and store result.

<?php
    if($serverVariable=="checked") 
        $checked = "checked";
    else
        $checked = "";
?>
<input type="checkbox"  name="deadline" value="yes" <?= $checked 
?> >

# on server
<?php
        if(isset($_POST['deadline']) and
             $_POST['deadline']=='yes')
             $serverVariable = checked;    
        else
             $serverVariable = "";  
?>
gavstar
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