HTML | DOM Select selectedIndex Property

Last Updated : 28 Mar, 2019

The Select selectedIndex property in HTML DOM is used to set or return the index of the selected option in a drop-down list. The index of the drop-down list generally starts with 0 and returns -1 if no option is selected. This property returns the index of the first option if the drop-down list allows multiple selections.

Syntax:

It returns the Select selectedIndex property.
```
selectObject.selectedIndex
```
It is used to set the Select selectedIndex property.
```
 selectObject.selectedIndex = number 
```

Property Values: It contains single value number which is used to specify the index of the selected option in a drop-down list.

Below program illustrates the Select selectedIndex property in HTML DOM:

Example: This example uses Select selectedIndex property to select the <option> element with index “3”.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
      
<head> 
    <title>
        HTML DOM Select selectedIndex Property
    </title> 
</head>
  
<body style="text-align:center;">
  
    <h1 style="color:green;">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1> 
      
    <h2 style="font-family: Impact;">
        Select selectedIndex Property
    </h2><br>
      
    Select your preferred course from the drop-down list:<br>
      
    <select name="Courses Titles" id="myCourses">
        <option value="C++">c++</option>
        <option value="Placement">Placement</option>
        <option value="Java">Java</option>
        <option value="Python">Python</option>
    </select>
      
    <p>
        To select the option element with index "3",
        double-click the "Return Element" button.
    </p>
      
    <button ondblclick="myGeeks()">
        Return Element
    </button>
      
    <!-- This example uses Select selectedIndex Property -->
    <script>
        function myGeeks() {
            document.getElementById("myCourses").selectedIndex
                    = "3";
        }
    </script>
</body>
  
</html>                                                     