index.md

---

title: AbortController
slug: Web/API/AbortController
page-type: web-api-interface
browser-compat: api.AbortController

---

{{APIRef("DOM")}}

The AbortController interface represents a controller object that allows you to abort one or more Web requests as and when desired.

You can create a new AbortController object using the {{domxref("AbortController.AbortController()", "AbortController()")}} constructor. Communicating with a DOM request is done using an {{domxref("AbortSignal")}} object.

Constructor

• {{domxref("AbortController()")}}

  • : Creates a new AbortController object instance.

Instance properties

• {{domxref("AbortController.signal")}} {{ReadOnlyInline}}

  • : Returns an {{domxref("AbortSignal")}} object instance, which can be used to communicate with, or to abort, a DOM request.

Instance methods

• {{domxref("AbortController.abort()")}}

  • : Aborts a DOM request before it has completed. This is able to abort fetch requests, consumption of any response bodies, and streams.

Examples

Note: There are additional examples in the {{domxref("AbortSignal")}} reference.

In the following snippet, we aim to download a video using the Fetch API.

We first create a controller using the {{domxref("AbortController.AbortController","AbortController()")}} constructor, then grab a reference to its associated {{domxref("AbortSignal")}} object using the {{domxref("AbortController.signal")}} property.

When the fetch request is initiated, we pass in the AbortSignal as an option inside the request's options object (the {signal} below). This associates the signal and controller with the fetch request and allows us to abort it by calling {{domxref("AbortController.abort()")}}, as seen below in the second event listener.

let controller;
const url = "video.mp4";

const downloadBtn = document.querySelector(".download");
const abortBtn = document.querySelector(".abort");

downloadBtn.addEventListener("click", fetchVideo);

abortBtn.addEventListener("click", () => {
  if (controller) {
    controller.abort();
    console.log("Download aborted");
  }
});

function fetchVideo() {
  controller = new AbortController();
  const signal = controller.signal;
  fetch(url, { signal })
    .then((response) => {
      console.log("Download complete", response);
    })
    .catch((err) => {
      console.error(`Download error: ${err.message}`);
    });
}

Note: When abort() is called, the fetch() promise rejects with a DOMException named AbortError.

You can find a full working example on GitHub; you can also see it running live.

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Fetch API

• Abortable Fetch by Jake Archibald