p5.js select() Function

Last Updated : 12 Jul, 2025
The select() function is used to search an element in the page with the given id, class or tag name and return it as a p5.element. It has a syntax similar to the CSS selector. An optional parameter is available that can be used to search within a given element. This method only returns the first element if multiple elements exist on the page that matches the selector. Note: The DOM node of the element can be accessed using the .elt property. Syntax:
select(name, [container])
Parameters: This function accept two parameters as mentioned above and described below:
  • name: It is a string which denotes the id, class or tag name of the element that has to be searched.
  • container: It is an optional parameter which denotes an element to search.
Return Value: When the given element is successfully found, it returns a p5.element that contains the node. Otherwise, it returns null. Below examples illustrates the select() function in p5.js: Example 1: javascript
function setup() {
  createCanvas(650, 50);
  textSize(20);
  text("Click the mouse to select the paragraph" +
       " element and change its position.", 0, 20);
 
  para1 = createP("This is paragraph 1");
  para2 = createP("This is paragraph 2");
  para3 = createP("This is paragraph 3");
}
 
function mouseClicked() {

  // Select the first
  // paragraph element
  selectedP = select("p");
 
  // Change position to 200, 20
  selectedP.position(200, 20);
}
Output: Example 2: javascript
function setup() {
  createCanvas(650, 300);
  textSize(20);
  text("Click the mouse once to select the"+
       " canvas and change its color.", 0, 20);
 
}
 
function mouseClicked() {

  // Select the first
  // canvas element
  selectedCanvas = select("canvas");
 
  // Get the DOM node using .elt and
  // change background color to green
  selectedCanvas.elt.style.backgroundColor
        = "green";
}
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