CanvasRenderingContext2D: getTransform() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.getTransform() method of the Canvas 2D API retrieves the current transformation matrix being applied to the context.

Syntax

js
getTransform()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A DOMMatrix object.

The transformation matrix is described by:

[acebdf001]\left[ \begin{array}{ccc} a & c & e \\ b & d & f \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right]

Note: The returned object is not live, so updating it will not affect the current transformation matrix, and updating the current transformation matrix will not affect an already returned DOMMatrix.

Examples

In the following example, we have two <canvas> elements. We apply a transform to the first one's context using CanvasRenderingContext2D.setTransform() and draw a square on it, then retrieve the matrix from it using getTransform().

We then apply the retrieved matrix directly to the second canvas context by passing the DOMMatrix object directly to setTransform(), and draw a circle on it.

HTML

html
<canvas width="240"></canvas> <canvas width="240"></canvas>

CSS

css
canvas {
  border: 1px solid black;
}

JavaScript

js
const canvases = document.querySelectorAll("canvas");
const ctx1 = canvases[0].getContext("2d");
const ctx2 = canvases[1].getContext("2d");

ctx1.setTransform(1, 0.2, 0.8, 1, 0, 0);
ctx1.fillRect(25, 25, 50, 50);

let storedTransform = ctx1.getTransform();
console.log(storedTransform);

ctx2.setTransform(storedTransform);
ctx2.beginPath();
ctx2.arc(50, 50, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
ctx2.fill();

Result

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard
# dom-context-2d-gettransform-dev

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also