Attach or detach an event handler

Written byPhuoc Nguyen

#Use the on attribute (not recommended)

You can set the event handler via the `on{eventName}` attribute, where `eventName` represents the name of event. For example:

ele.onclick = function() {
    ...
};

// Remove the event handler
delete ele.onclick;

This approach isn't recommended because we can only attach one handler for each event. Setting the `onclick` attribute, for example, will override any existing handler for the `click` event.

#Use the addEventListener method

const handler = function() {
    ...
};

// Attach handler to the `click` event
ele.addEventListener('click', handler);

// Detach the handler from the `click` event
ele.removeEventListener('click', handler);

Note that the event name is passed as the first parameter in both the `addEventListener` and `removeEventListener` methods. It differs from the first approach which requires to prefix the event name with `on`.

If you want the handler to be invoke once, then look at the Create one time event handler post.

#See also

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