With a Click in the Textarea

<form> <textarea rows="5" cols="40" onClick="this.select();">contents of textarea here</textarea> </form>

With a Button

<form> <textarea rows="5" cols="40" name="txtbox1">contents of textarea here</textarea> <input type="button" value="select all" onClick="this.form.txtbox1.focus();this.form.txtbox1.select();"> </form>

The rows and cols define the size of your text box (vertical and horizontal respectively), and the input value is whatever you want written on the button.