Revision 1040554 of CanvasRenderingContext2D.clearRect()

<div>{{APIRef}}</div>

<p>The <code><strong>CanvasRenderingContext2D</strong></code><strong><code>.clearRect()</code></strong> method of the Canvas 2D API sets all pixels in the rectangle defined by starting point&nbsp;<em>(x, y)</em>&nbsp;and size <em>(width, height)</em>&nbsp;to transparent black, erasing any previously drawn content.</p>

<h2 id="Syntax">Syntax</h2>

<pre class="syntaxbox">
void <var><em>ctx</em>.clearRect(x, y, width, height);</var>
</pre>

<h3 id="Parameters">Parameters</h3>

<dl>
 <dt><code>x</code></dt>
 <dd>The x axis of the coordinate for the rectangle starting point.</dd>
 <dt><code>y</code></dt>
 <dd>The y axis of the coordinate for the rectangle starting point.</dd>
 <dt><code>width</code></dt>
 <dd>The rectangle's width.</dd>
 <dt><code>height</code></dt>
 <dd>The rectangle's height.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>Usage notes</h2>

<p>A common problem with <code>clearRect</code> is that it may appear it does not work when not <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Canvas_API/Tutorial/Drawing_shapes#Drawing_paths">using paths properly</a>. Don't forget to call {{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D.beginPath", "beginPath()")}} before starting to draw the new frame after calling <code>clearRect</code>.</p>

<h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2>

<h3 id="Using_the_clearRect_method">Using the <code>clearRect</code> method</h3>

<p>This is just a simple code snippet which uses the <code>clearRect</code> method.</p>

<h4 id="HTML">HTML</h4>

<pre class="brush: html">
&lt;canvas id="canvas"&gt;&lt;/canvas&gt;
</pre>

<h4 id="JavaScript">JavaScript</h4>

<pre class="brush: js; highlight:[11]">
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(20,20);
ctx.lineTo(200,20);
ctx.lineTo(120,120);
ctx.closePath(); // draws last line of the triangle
ctx.stroke();

ctx.clearRect(10, 10, 100, 100);

// clear the whole canvas
// ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
</pre>

<p>Edit the code below and see your changes update live in the canvas:</p>

<div style="display:none">
<h6 id="Playable_code">Playable code</h6>

<pre class="brush: html">
&lt;canvas id="canvas" width="400" height="200" class="playable-canvas"&gt;&lt;/canvas&gt;
&lt;div class="playable-buttons"&gt;
&nbsp; &lt;input id="edit" type="button" value="Edit" /&gt;
&nbsp; &lt;input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;textarea id="code" class="playable-code" style="height:140px;"&gt;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(20,20);
ctx.lineTo(200,20);
ctx.lineTo(120,120);
ctx.closePath(); // draws last line of the triangle
ctx.stroke();

ctx.clearRect(10, 10, 100, 100);&lt;/textarea&gt;
</pre>

<pre class="brush: js">
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
var textarea = document.getElementById("code");
var reset = document.getElementById("reset");
var edit = document.getElementById("edit");
var code = textarea.value;

function drawCanvas() {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
  eval(textarea.value);
}

reset.addEventListener("click", function() {
  textarea.value = code;
  drawCanvas();
});

edit.addEventListener("click", function() {
  textarea.focus();
})

textarea.addEventListener("input", drawCanvas);
window.addEventListener("load", drawCanvas);
</pre>
</div>

<p>{{ EmbedLiveSample('Playable_code', 700, 400) }}</p>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', "scripting.html#dom-context-2d-clearrect", "CanvasRenderingContext2D.clearRect")}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>

<p>{{CompatibilityTable}}</p>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Chrome for Android</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>IE Mobile</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li>The interface defining it, {{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D")}}</li>
 <li>{{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D.fillRect()")}}</li>
 <li>{{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D.strokeRect()")}}</li>
</ul>