docs-desktop/dotnet-desktop-guide/framework/wpf/controls/how-to-retrieve-a-text-selection.md

title, ms.date, ms.custom, description, dev_langs, helpviewer_keywords, ms.assetid

title	ms.date	ms.custom	description	dev_langs	helpviewer_keywords	ms.assetid
How to: Retrieve a Text Selection	03/30/2017	devdivchpfy22	Learn how to retrieve a Text selection.	csharp vb	text [WPF], retrieving TextBox control [WPF], retrieving text retrieving text [WPF]	d5793172-1e11-4a39-9be0-73f336ed858d

How to: Retrieve a Text Selection

This example shows one way to use the xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox.SelectedText%2A property to retrieve text that the user has selected in a xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox control.

Define a TextBox control

The following Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) example shows the definition of a xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox control that contains some text to select, and a xref:System.Windows.Controls.Button control with a specified xref:System.Windows.Controls.Button.OnClick%2A method.

In this example, a button with an associated xref:System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.ButtonBase.Click event handler is used to retrieve the text selection. When the user clicks the button, the xref:System.Windows.Controls.Button.OnClick%2A method copies any selected text in the textbox into a string. The particular circumstances by which the text selection is retrieved (clicking a button), as well as the action taken with that selection (copying the text selection to a string), can easily be modified to accommodate a wide variety of scenarios.

[!code-xamlTextBox_MiscCode#_TextBoxSelectTextXAML]

OnClick event handler

The following C# example shows an xref:System.Windows.Controls.Button.OnClick%2A event handler for the button defined in the XAML for this example.

[!code-csharpTextBox_MiscCode#_SelectText] [!code-vbTextBox_MiscCode#_SelectText]

See also

• TextBox Overview
• RichTextBox Overview