focus.mdx

title	description	sidebar_label
focus | Cypress Documentation	Focus on a DOM element in Cypress.	focus

focus

Focus on a DOM element.

It is unsafe to chain further commands that rely on the subject after .focus().

Syntax

.focus()
.focus(options)

Usage

Correct Usage

cy.get('input').first().focus() // Focus on the first input

Incorrect Usage

cy.focus('#search') // Errors, cannot be chained off 'cy'
cy.window().focus() // Errors, 'window' does not yield DOM element

Arguments

options (Object)

Pass in an options object to change the default behavior of .focus().

Option	Default	Description
log	true	Displays the command in the Command log
timeout	defaultCommandTimeout	Time to wait for .focus() to resolve before timing out

• .focus() yields the same subject it was given.
• It is unsafe to chain further commands that rely on the subject after .focus().

Examples

No Args

Focus on an input

cy.get('[type="input"]').focus()

Focus, type, and blur a textarea

// yields the <textarea> for further chaining
cy.get('textarea').focus().type('Nice Product!').blur()

Notes

Actionability

Focus is not an action command

.focus() is not implemented like other action commands, and does not follow the same rules of waiting for actionability.

.focus() is a helpful command used as a shortcut. Normally there's no way for a user to "focus" an element without causing another action or side effect. Typically the user would have to click or tab to this element.

Oftentimes using .focus() directly is more concise and conveys what you're trying to test.

If you want the other guarantees of waiting for an element to become actionable, you should use a different command like .click().

Blur Events

Cypress blurs other focused elements first

If there is currently a different DOM element with focus, Cypress issues a blur event to that element before running the .focus() command.

Focusable

Can only be called on a valid focusable element

Ensure the element you are trying to call .focus() on is a focusable element.

Timeouts {#Notes-Timeouts}

Can time out because your browser did not receive any focus events

If you see this error, you may want to ensure that the main browser window is currently focused. This means not being focused in debugger or any other window when the command is run.

Internally Cypress does account for this, and will polyfill the blur events when necessary to replicate what the browser does. Unfortunately the browser will still behave differently when not in focus - for instance it may throttle async events. Your best bet here is to keep Cypress focused when working on a test.

Rules

• .focus() requires being chained off a command that yields DOM element(s).
• .focus() requires the element to be able to receive focus.

• .focus() will automatically wait for assertions you have chained to pass.

• .focus() can time out waiting for assertions you've added to pass.

Command Log

Focus the textarea

cy.get('[name="comment"]').focus()

The commands above will display in the Command Log as:

When clicking on the focus command within the command log, the console outputs the following:

See also

• .blur()
• .click()
• cy.focused()
• .type()