---
category: Browser
---

# useEventListener

Use EventListener with ease. Register using [addEventListener](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget/addEventListener) on mounted, and [removeEventListener](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget/removeEventListener) automatically on unmounted.

## Usage

```ts
import { useEventListener } from '@vueuse/core'

useEventListener(document, 'visibilitychange', (evt) => {
  console.log(evt)
})
```

You can also pass a ref as the event target, `useEventListener` will unregister the previous event and register the new one when you change the target.

```vue
<script setup lang="ts">
import { useEventListener } from '@vueuse/core'
import { useTemplateRef } from 'vue'

const element = useTemplateRef('element')
useEventListener(element, 'keydown', (e) => {
  console.log(e.key)
})
</script>

<template>
  <div v-if="cond" ref="element">
    Div1
  </div>
  <div v-else ref="element">
    Div2
  </div>
</template>
```

You can also call the returned to unregister the listener.

```ts
import { useEventListener } from '@vueuse/core'

const cleanup = useEventListener(document, 'keydown', (e) => {
  console.log(e.key)
})

cleanup() // This will unregister the listener.
```

Note if your components also run in SSR (Server Side Rendering), you might get errors (like `document is not defined`) because DOM APIs like `document` and `window` are not available in Node.js. To avoid that you can put the logic inside `onMounted` hook.

```ts
import { useEventListener } from '@vueuse/core'
// ---cut---
// onMounted will only be called in the client side
// so it guarantees the DOM APIs are available.
onMounted(() => {
  useEventListener(document, 'keydown', (e) => {
    console.log(e.key)
  })
})
```

## Type Declarations

```ts
interface InferEventTarget<Events> {
  addEventListener: (event: Events, fn?: any, options?: any) => any
  removeEventListener: (event: Events, fn?: any, options?: any) => any
}
export type WindowEventName = keyof WindowEventMap
export type DocumentEventName = keyof DocumentEventMap
export type ShadowRootEventName = keyof ShadowRootEventMap
export interface GeneralEventListener<E = Event> {
  (evt: E): void
}
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 1: Omitted Window target
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<E extends keyof WindowEventMap>(
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<E>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<Arrayable<(this: Window, ev: WindowEventMap[E]) => any>>,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 2: Explicitly Window target
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 * @param target
 * @param event
 * @param listener
 * @param options
 */
export declare function useEventListener<E extends keyof WindowEventMap>(
  target: Window,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<E>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<Arrayable<(this: Window, ev: WindowEventMap[E]) => any>>,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 3: Explicitly Document target
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<E extends keyof DocumentEventMap>(
  target: Document,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<E>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<
    Arrayable<(this: Document, ev: DocumentEventMap[E]) => any>
  >,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 4: Explicitly ShadowRoot target
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<E extends keyof ShadowRootEventMap>(
  target: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<ShadowRoot> | null | undefined>,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<E>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<
    Arrayable<(this: ShadowRoot, ev: ShadowRootEventMap[E]) => any>
  >,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 5: Explicitly HTMLElement target
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<E extends keyof HTMLElementEventMap>(
  target: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<HTMLElement> | null | undefined>,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<E>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<(this: HTMLElement, ev: HTMLElementEventMap[E]) => any>,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 6: Custom event target with event type infer
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<
  Names extends string,
  EventType = Event,
>(
  target: MaybeRefOrGetter<
    Arrayable<InferEventTarget<Names>> | null | undefined
  >,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<Names>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<Arrayable<GeneralEventListener<EventType>>>,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
/**
 * Register using addEventListener on mounted, and removeEventListener automatically on unmounted.
 *
 * Overload 7: Custom event target fallback
 *
 * @see https://vueuse.org/useEventListener
 */
export declare function useEventListener<EventType = Event>(
  target: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<EventTarget> | null | undefined>,
  event: MaybeRefOrGetter<Arrayable<string>>,
  listener: MaybeRef<Arrayable<GeneralEventListener<EventType>>>,
  options?: MaybeRefOrGetter<boolean | AddEventListenerOptions>,
): Fn
```
