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href="/zh-CN/docs/Web/API/Node" class="button submenu-item"><span>中文 (简体)</span></a></li></ul></div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="main-wrapper"><div class="sidebar-container"><aside id="sidebar-quicklinks" class="sidebar" data-macro="APIRef"><button type="button" class="button action backdrop" aria-label="Collapse sidebar"><span class="button-wrap"></span></button><nav aria-label="Related Topics" class="sidebar-inner"><header class="sidebar-actions"><section class="sidebar-filter-container"><div class="sidebar-filter "><label id="sidebar-filter-label" class="sidebar-filter-label" for="sidebar-filter-input"><span class="icon icon-filter"></span><span class="visually-hidden">Filter sidebar</span></label><input id="sidebar-filter-input" autoComplete="off" class="sidebar-filter-input-field false" type="text" placeholder="Filter" value=""/><button type="button" class="button action has-icon clear-sidebar-filter-button"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-cancel "></span><span class="visually-hidden">Clear filter input</span></span></button></div></section></header><div class="sidebar-inner-nav"><div class="in-nav-toc"><div class="document-toc-container"><section class="document-toc"><header><h2 class="document-toc-heading">In this article</h2></header><ul class="document-toc-list"><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#instance_properties">Instance properties</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#instance_methods">Instance methods</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#examples">Examples</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#specifications">Specifications</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</a></li></ul></section></div></div><div class="sidebar-body"><ol><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document_Object_Model">Document Object Model</a></li><li class="section"><em><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node" aria-current="page"><code>Node</code></a></em></li><li class="toggle"><details open=""><summary>Instance properties</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/baseURI"><code>baseURI</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/childNodes"><code>childNodes</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/firstChild"><code>firstChild</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isConnected"><code>isConnected</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lastChild"><code>lastChild</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nextSibling"><code>nextSibling</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeName"><code>nodeName</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType"><code>nodeType</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeValue"><code>nodeValue</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/ownerDocument"><code>ownerDocument</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentElement"><code>parentElement</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentNode"><code>parentNode</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/previousSibling"><code>previousSibling</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/textContent"><code>textContent</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details open=""><summary>Instance methods</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/appendChild"><code>appendChild()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/cloneNode"><code>cloneNode()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/compareDocumentPosition"><code>compareDocumentPosition()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/contains"><code>contains()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/getRootNode"><code>getRootNode()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/hasChildNodes"><code>hasChildNodes()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/insertBefore"><code>insertBefore()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isDefaultNamespace"><code>isDefaultNamespace()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isEqualNode"><code>isEqualNode()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isSameNode"><code>isSameNode()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupNamespaceURI"><code>lookupNamespaceURI()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupPrefix"><code>lookupPrefix()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/normalize"><code>normalize()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/removeChild"><code>removeChild()</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/replaceChild"><code>replaceChild()</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details open=""><summary>Events</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/selectstart_event"><code>selectstart</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details open=""><summary>Inheritance</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget"><code>EventTarget</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details open=""><summary>Related pages for DOM</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbortController"><code>AbortController</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbortSignal"><code>AbortSignal</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbstractRange"><code>AbstractRange</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Attr"><code>Attr</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/CDATASection"><code>CDATASection</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/CharacterData"><code>CharacterData</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Comment"><code>Comment</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/CustomEvent"><code>CustomEvent</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMError"><code>DOMError</code></a><abbr class="icon icon-deprecated" title="Deprecated. Not for use in new websites."> <span class="visually-hidden">Deprecated</span> </abbr></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMException"><code>DOMException</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMImplementation"><code>DOMImplementation</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser"><code>DOMParser</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMPoint"><code>DOMPoint</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMPointReadOnly"><code>DOMPointReadOnly</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMRect"><code>DOMRect</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMTokenList"><code>DOMTokenList</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document"><code>Document</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentFragment"><code>DocumentFragment</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentType"><code>DocumentType</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element"><code>Element</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Event"><code>Event</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget"><code>EventTarget</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLCollection"><code>HTMLCollection</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/MutationObserver"><code>MutationObserver</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/MutationRecord"><code>MutationRecord</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NamedNodeMap"><code>NamedNodeMap</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeIterator"><code>NodeIterator</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList"><code>NodeList</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/ProcessingInstruction"><code>ProcessingInstruction</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Range"><code>Range</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/StaticRange"><code>StaticRange</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text"><code>Text</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/TextDecoder"><code>TextDecoder</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/TextEncoder"><code>TextEncoder</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/TimeRanges"><code>TimeRanges</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/TreeWalker"><code>TreeWalker</code></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/XMLDocument"><code>XMLDocument</code></a></li></ol></details></li></ol></div></div><section class="place side"></section></nav></aside><div class="toc-container"><aside class="toc"><nav><div class="document-toc-container"><section class="document-toc"><header><h2 class="document-toc-heading">In this article</h2></header><ul class="document-toc-list"><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#instance_properties">Instance properties</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#instance_methods">Instance methods</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#examples">Examples</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#specifications">Specifications</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</a></li></ul></section></div></nav></aside><section class="place side"></section></div></div><main id="content" class="main-content "><article class="main-page-content" lang="en-US"><header><h1>Node</h1><details class="baseline-indicator high"><summary><span class="indicator" role="img" aria-label="Baseline Check"></span><h2>Baseline <span class="not-bold">Widely available</span></h2><div class="browsers"><span class="engine" title="Supported in Chrome and Edge"><span class="browser chrome supported" role="img" aria-label="Chrome check"></span><span class="browser edge supported" role="img" aria-label="Edge check"></span></span><span class="engine" title="Supported in Firefox"><span class="browser firefox supported" role="img" aria-label="Firefox check"></span></span><span class="engine" title="Supported in Safari"><span class="browser safari supported" role="img" aria-label="Safari check"></span></span></div><span class="icon icon-chevron "></span></summary><div class="extra"><p>This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.</p><ul><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/Baseline/Compatibility" data-glean="baseline_link_learn_more" target="_blank" class="learn-more">Learn more</a></li><li><a href="#browser_compatibility" data-glean="baseline_link_bcd_table">See full compatibility</a></li><li><a href="https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7634825/MDN-baseline-feedback?page=%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FWeb%2FAPI%2FNode&level=high" data-glean="baseline_link_feedback" class="feedback-link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Report feedback</a></li></ul></div></details></header><div class="section-content"><p> The <a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/DOM">DOM</a> <strong><code>Node</code></strong> interface is an abstract base class upon which many other DOM API objects are based, thus letting those object types to be used similarly and often interchangeably. As an abstract class, there is no such thing as a plain <code>Node</code> object. All objects that implement <code>Node</code> functionality are based on one of its subclasses. Most notable are <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document"><code>Document</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element"><code>Element</code></a>, and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentFragment"><code>DocumentFragment</code></a>. </p> <p> In addition, every kind of DOM node is represented by an interface based on <code>Node</code>. These include <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Attr"><code>Attr</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/CharacterData"><code>CharacterData</code></a> (which <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text"><code>Text</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Comment"><code>Comment</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/CDATASection"><code>CDATASection</code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/ProcessingInstruction"><code>ProcessingInstruction</code></a> are all based on), and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentType"><code>DocumentType</code></a>. </p> <p> In some cases, a particular feature of the base <code>Node</code> interface may not apply to one of its child interfaces; in that case, the inheriting node may return <code>null</code> or throw an exception, depending on circumstances. For example, attempting to add children to a node type that cannot have children will throw an exception. </p><svg viewBox="-1 -1 650 42" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet"> <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget"> <rect x="0" y="0" width="88" height="25" fill="#fff" stroke="#D4DDE4" stroke-width="2px"></rect> <text x="44" y="16" font-size="10px" fill="#4D4E53" text-anchor="middle"> EventTarget </text> </a> <line x1="88" y1="14" x2="118" y2="14" stroke="#D4DDE4"></line> <polyline points="88,14 98,9 98,19 88,14" stroke="#D4DDE4" fill="#fff"></polyline> <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node" aria-current="page"> <rect x="118" y="0" width="75" height="25" fill="#F4F7F8" stroke="#D4DDE4" stroke-width="2px"></rect> <text x="155.5" y="16" font-size="10px" fill="#4D4E53" text-anchor="middle"> Node </text> </a></svg></div><section aria-labelledby="instance_properties"><h2 id="instance_properties"><a href="#instance_properties">Instance properties</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p><em>In addition to the properties below, <code>Node</code> inherits properties from its parent, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget"><code>EventTarget</code></a></em>.</p> <dl> <dt id="node.baseuri"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/baseURI"><code>Node.baseURI</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a string representing the base URL of the document containing the <code>Node</code>. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.childnodes"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/childNodes"><code>Node.childNodes</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a live <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList"><code>NodeList</code></a> containing all the children of this node (including elements, text and comments). <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList"><code>NodeList</code></a> being live means that if the children of the <code>Node</code> change, the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList"><code>NodeList</code></a> object is automatically updated. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.firstchild"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/firstChild"><code>Node.firstChild</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the first direct child node of the node, or <code>null</code> if the node has no child. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.isconnected"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isConnected"><code>Node.isConnected</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> A boolean indicating whether or not the Node is connected (directly or indirectly) to the context object, e.g. the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document"><code>Document</code></a> object in the case of the normal DOM, or the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/ShadowRoot"><code>ShadowRoot</code></a> in the case of a shadow DOM. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.lastchild"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lastChild"><code>Node.lastChild</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the last direct child node of the node, or <code>null</code> if the node has no child. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.nextsibling"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nextSibling"><code>Node.nextSibling</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the next node in the tree, or <code>null</code> if there isn't such node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.nodename"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeName"><code>Node.nodeName</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a string containing the name of the <code>Node</code>. The structure of the name will differ with the node type. E.g. An <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement"><code>HTMLElement</code></a> will contain the name of the corresponding tag, like <code>'AUDIO'</code> for an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLAudioElement"><code>HTMLAudioElement</code></a>, a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text"><code>Text</code></a> node will have the <code>'#text'</code> string, or a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document"><code>Document</code></a> node will have the <code>'#document'</code> string. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.nodetype"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType"><code>Node.nodeType</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns an <code>unsigned short</code> representing the type of the node. Possible values are: </p> <figure class="table-container"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Value</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td><code>ELEMENT_NODE</code></td> <td><code>1</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>ATTRIBUTE_NODE</code></td> <td><code>2</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>TEXT_NODE</code></td> <td><code>3</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>CDATA_SECTION_NODE</code></td> <td><code>4</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE</code></td> <td><code>7</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>COMMENT_NODE</code></td> <td><code>8</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>DOCUMENT_NODE</code></td> <td><code>9</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE</code></td> <td><code>10</code></td> </tr> <tr> <td><code>DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE</code></td> <td><code>11</code></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></figure> </dd> <dt id="node.nodevalue"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeValue"><code>Node.nodeValue</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Returns / Sets the value of the current node.</p> </dd> <dt id="node.ownerdocument"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/ownerDocument"><code>Node.ownerDocument</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document"><code>Document</code></a> that this node belongs to. If the node is itself a document, returns <code>null</code>. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.parentnode"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentNode"><code>Node.parentNode</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a <code>Node</code> that is the parent of this node. If there is no such node, like if this node is the top of the tree or if doesn't participate in a tree, this property returns <code>null</code>. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.parentelement"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentElement"><code>Node.parentElement</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element"><code>Element</code></a> that is the parent of this node. If the node has no parent, or if that parent is not an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element"><code>Element</code></a>, this property returns <code>null</code>. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.previoussibling"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/previousSibling"><code>Node.previousSibling</code></a> <span class="badge inline readonly" title="This value may not be changed.">Read only </span></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the previous node in the tree, or <code>null</code> if there isn't such node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.textcontent"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/textContent"><code>Node.textContent</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Returns / Sets the textual content of an element and all its descendants.</p> </dd> </dl></div></section><section aria-labelledby="instance_methods"><h2 id="instance_methods"><a href="#instance_methods">Instance methods</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p><em>In addition to the methods below, <code>Node</code> inherits methods from its parent, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget"><code>EventTarget</code></a>.</em></p> <dl> <dt id="node.appendchild"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/appendChild"><code>Node.appendChild()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Adds the specified <code>childNode</code> argument as the last child to the current node. If the argument referenced an existing node on the DOM tree, the node will be detached from its current position and attached at the new position. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.clonenode"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/cloneNode"><code>Node.cloneNode()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Clone a <code>Node</code>, and optionally, all of its contents. By default, it clones the content of the node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.comparedocumentposition"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/compareDocumentPosition"><code>Node.compareDocumentPosition()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Compares the position of the current node against another node in any other document.</p> </dd> <dt id="node.contains"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/contains"><code>Node.contains()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Returns <code>true</code> or <code>false</code> value indicating whether or not a node is a descendant of the calling node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.getrootnode"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/getRootNode"><code>Node.getRootNode()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Returns the context object's root which optionally includes the shadow root if it is available.</p> </dd> <dt id="node.haschildnodes"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/hasChildNodes"><code>Node.hasChildNodes()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the element has any child nodes.</p> </dd> <dt id="node.insertbefore"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/insertBefore"><code>Node.insertBefore()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Inserts a <code>Node</code> before the reference node as a child of a specified parent node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.isdefaultnamespace"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isDefaultNamespace"><code>Node.isDefaultNamespace()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Accepts a namespace URI as an argument and returns a boolean value with a value of <code>true</code> if the namespace is the default namespace on the given node or <code>false</code> if not. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.isequalnode"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isEqualNode"><code>Node.isEqualNode()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a boolean value which indicates whether or not two nodes are of the same type and all their defining data points match. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.issamenode"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isSameNode"><code>Node.isSameNode()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the two nodes are the same (that is, they reference the same object). </p> </dd> <dt id="node.lookupprefix"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupPrefix"><code>Node.lookupPrefix()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Returns a string containing the prefix for a given namespace URI, if present, and <code>null</code> if not. When multiple prefixes are possible, the result is implementation-dependent. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.lookupnamespaceuri"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupNamespaceURI"><code>Node.lookupNamespaceURI()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Accepts a prefix and returns the namespace URI associated with it on the given node if found (and <code>null</code> if not). Supplying <code>null</code> for the prefix will return the default namespace. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.normalize"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/normalize"><code>Node.normalize()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>Clean up all the text nodes under this element (merge adjacent, remove empty).</p> </dd> <dt id="node.removechild"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/removeChild"><code>Node.removeChild()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Removes a child node from the current element, which must be a child of the current node. </p> </dd> <dt id="node.replacechild"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/replaceChild"><code>Node.replaceChild()</code></a></dt> <dd> <p> Replaces one child <code>Node</code> of the current one with the second one given in parameter. </p> </dd> </dl></div></section><section aria-labelledby="examples"><h2 id="examples"><a href="#examples">Examples</a></h2><div class="section-content"></div></section><section aria-labelledby="remove_all_children_nested_within_a_node"><h3 id="remove_all_children_nested_within_a_node"><a href="#remove_all_children_nested_within_a_node">Remove all children nested within a node</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>This function remove each first child of an element, until there are none left.</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">js</span></div><pre class="brush: js notranslate"><code>function removeAllChildren(element) { while (element.firstChild) { element.removeChild(element.firstChild); } } </code></pre></div> <p>Using this function is a single call. Here we empty the body of the document:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">js</span></div><pre class="brush: js notranslate"><code>removeAllChildren(document.body); </code></pre></div> <p>An alternative could be to set the textContent to the empty string: <code>document.body.textContent = ""</code>.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="recurse_through_child_nodes"><h3 id="recurse_through_child_nodes"><a href="#recurse_through_child_nodes">Recurse through child nodes</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p> The following function recursively calls a callback function for each node contained by a root node (including the root itself): </p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">js</span></div><pre class="brush: js notranslate"><code>function eachNode(rootNode, callback) { if (!callback) { const nodes = []; eachNode(rootNode, (node) => { nodes.push(node); }); return nodes; } if (callback(rootNode) === false) { return false; } if (rootNode.hasChildNodes()) { for (const node of rootNode.childNodes) { if (eachNode(node, callback) === false) { return; } } } } </code></pre></div> <p> The function recursively calls a function for each descendant node of <code>rootNode</code> (including the root itself). </p> <p> If <code>callback</code> is omitted, the function returns an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array"><code>Array</code></a> instead, which contains <code>rootNode</code> and all nodes contained within. </p> <p> If <code>callback</code> is provided, and it returns <code>false</code> when called, the current recursion level is aborted, and the function resumes execution at the last parent's level. This can be used to abort loops once a node has been found (such as searching for a text node which contains a certain string). </p> <p>The function has two parameters:</p> <dl> <dt id="rootnode"><a href="#rootnode"><code>rootNode</code></a></dt> <dd> <p>The <code>Node</code> object whose descendants will be recursed through.</p> </dd> <dt id="callback"><a href="#callback"><code>callback</code></a> <span class="badge inline optional">Optional</span></dt> <dd> <p> An optional callback <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function">function</a> that receives a <code>Node</code> as its only argument. If omitted, <code>eachNode</code> returns an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array"><code>Array</code></a> of every node contained within <code>rootNode</code> (including the root itself). </p> </dd> </dl> <p> The following demonstrates a real-world use of the <code>eachNode()</code> function: searching for text on a web-page. </p> <p>We use a wrapper function named <code>grep</code> to do the searching:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">js</span></div><pre class="brush: js notranslate"><code>function grep(parentNode, pattern) { let matches = []; let endScan = false; eachNode(parentNode, (node) => { if (endScan) { return false; } // Ignore anything which isn't a text node if (node.nodeType !== Node.TEXT_NODE) { return; } if (typeof pattern === "string" && node.textContent.includes(pattern)) { matches.push(node); } else if (pattern.test(node.textContent)) { if (!pattern.global) { endScan = true; matches = node; } else { matches.push(node); } } }); return matches; } </code></pre></div></div></section><h2 id="specifications"><a href="#specifications">Specifications</a></h2><table class="standard-table"><thead><tr><th scope="col">Specification</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://dom.spec.whatwg.org/#interface-node">DOM Standard <br/><small># interface-node</small></a></td></tr></tbody></table><h2 id="browser_compatibility"><a href="#browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</a></h2><p>BCD tables only load in the browser<noscript> with JavaScript enabled. 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href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/">Mozilla Foundation</a>.<br/>Portions of this content are ©1998–2024 by individual mozilla.org contributors. Content available under <a href="/en-US/docs/MDN/Writing_guidelines/Attrib_copyright_license">a Creative Commons license</a>.</p></div></div></footer></div><script type="application/json" id="hydration">{"url":"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node","doc":{"isMarkdown":true,"isTranslated":false,"isActive":true,"flaws":{},"title":"Node","mdn_url":"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node","locale":"en-US","native":"English (US)","browserCompat":["api.Node"],"baseline":{"baseline":"high","baseline_high_date":"2018-01-29","baseline_low_date":"2015-07-29","support":{"chrome":"1","chrome_android":"18","edge":"12","firefox":"1","firefox_android":"4","safari":"1","safari_ios":"1"}},"sidebarHTML":"<ol><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document_Object_Model\">Document Object Model</a></li><li class=\"section\"><em><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node\" aria-current=\"page\"><code>Node</code></a></em></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary>Instance properties</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/baseURI\"><code>baseURI</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/childNodes\"><code>childNodes</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/firstChild\"><code>firstChild</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isConnected\"><code>isConnected</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lastChild\"><code>lastChild</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nextSibling\"><code>nextSibling</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeName\"><code>nodeName</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType\"><code>nodeType</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeValue\"><code>nodeValue</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/ownerDocument\"><code>ownerDocument</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentElement\"><code>parentElement</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentNode\"><code>parentNode</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/previousSibling\"><code>previousSibling</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/textContent\"><code>textContent</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary>Instance methods</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/appendChild\"><code>appendChild()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/cloneNode\"><code>cloneNode()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/compareDocumentPosition\"><code>compareDocumentPosition()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/contains\"><code>contains()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/getRootNode\"><code>getRootNode()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/hasChildNodes\"><code>hasChildNodes()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/insertBefore\"><code>insertBefore()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isDefaultNamespace\"><code>isDefaultNamespace()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isEqualNode\"><code>isEqualNode()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isSameNode\"><code>isSameNode()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupNamespaceURI\"><code>lookupNamespaceURI()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupPrefix\"><code>lookupPrefix()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/normalize\"><code>normalize()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/removeChild\"><code>removeChild()</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/replaceChild\"><code>replaceChild()</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary>Events</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/selectstart_event\"><code>selectstart</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary>Inheritance</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget\"><code>EventTarget</code></a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary>Related pages for DOM</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbortController\"><code>AbortController</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbortSignal\"><code>AbortSignal</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/AbstractRange\"><code>AbstractRange</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Attr\"><code>Attr</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/CDATASection\"><code>CDATASection</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/CharacterData\"><code>CharacterData</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Comment\"><code>Comment</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/CustomEvent\"><code>CustomEvent</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMError\"><code>DOMError</code></a><abbr class=\"icon icon-deprecated\" title=\"Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.\">\n <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Deprecated</span>\n</abbr></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMException\"><code>DOMException</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMImplementation\"><code>DOMImplementation</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser\"><code>DOMParser</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMPoint\"><code>DOMPoint</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMPointReadOnly\"><code>DOMPointReadOnly</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMRect\"><code>DOMRect</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMTokenList\"><code>DOMTokenList</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document\"><code>Document</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentFragment\"><code>DocumentFragment</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentType\"><code>DocumentType</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element\"><code>Element</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Event\"><code>Event</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget\"><code>EventTarget</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLCollection\"><code>HTMLCollection</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/MutationObserver\"><code>MutationObserver</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/MutationRecord\"><code>MutationRecord</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NamedNodeMap\"><code>NamedNodeMap</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeIterator\"><code>NodeIterator</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList\"><code>NodeList</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/ProcessingInstruction\"><code>ProcessingInstruction</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Range\"><code>Range</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/StaticRange\"><code>StaticRange</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text\"><code>Text</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/TextDecoder\"><code>TextDecoder</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/TextEncoder\"><code>TextEncoder</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/TimeRanges\"><code>TimeRanges</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/TreeWalker\"><code>TreeWalker</code></a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/XMLDocument\"><code>XMLDocument</code></a></li></ol></details></li></ol>","sidebarMacro":"APIRef","body":[{"type":"prose","value":{"id":null,"title":null,"isH3":false,"content":"<p>\n The <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Glossary/DOM\">DOM</a> <strong><code>Node</code></strong> interface is an abstract base\n class upon which many other DOM API objects are based, thus letting those object types\n to be used similarly and often interchangeably. As an abstract class, there is\n no such thing as a plain <code>Node</code> object. All objects that implement\n <code>Node</code> functionality are based on one of its subclasses. Most notable are\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document\"><code>Document</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element\"><code>Element</code></a>, and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentFragment\"><code>DocumentFragment</code></a>.\n</p>\n<p>\n In addition, every kind of DOM node is represented by an interface based on\n <code>Node</code>. These include <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Attr\"><code>Attr</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/CharacterData\"><code>CharacterData</code></a>\n (which <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text\"><code>Text</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Comment\"><code>Comment</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/CDATASection\"><code>CDATASection</code></a> and\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/ProcessingInstruction\"><code>ProcessingInstruction</code></a> are all based on), and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/DocumentType\"><code>DocumentType</code></a>.\n</p>\n<p>\n In some cases, a particular feature of the base <code>Node</code> interface may not\n apply to one of its child interfaces; in that case, the inheriting node may\n return <code>null</code> or throw an exception, depending on circumstances. For example,\n attempting to add children to a node type that cannot have children will throw an\n exception.\n</p><svg viewBox=\"-1 -1 650 42\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMinYMin meet\">\n <a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget\">\n <rect x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"88\" height=\"25\" fill=\"#fff\" stroke=\"#D4DDE4\" stroke-width=\"2px\"></rect>\n <text x=\"44\" y=\"16\" font-size=\"10px\" fill=\"#4D4E53\" text-anchor=\"middle\">\n EventTarget\n </text>\n </a>\n <line x1=\"88\" y1=\"14\" x2=\"118\" y2=\"14\" stroke=\"#D4DDE4\"></line>\n <polyline points=\"88,14 98,9 98,19 88,14\" stroke=\"#D4DDE4\" fill=\"#fff\"></polyline>\n <a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node\" aria-current=\"page\">\n <rect x=\"118\" y=\"0\" width=\"75\" height=\"25\" fill=\"#F4F7F8\" stroke=\"#D4DDE4\" stroke-width=\"2px\"></rect>\n <text x=\"155.5\" y=\"16\" font-size=\"10px\" fill=\"#4D4E53\" text-anchor=\"middle\">\n Node\n </text>\n </a></svg>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"instance_properties","title":"Instance properties","isH3":false,"content":"<p><em>In addition to the properties below, <code>Node</code> inherits properties from its parent, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget\"><code>EventTarget</code></a></em>.</p>\n<dl>\n <dt id=\"node.baseuri\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/baseURI\"><code>Node.baseURI</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a string representing the base URL of the document\n containing the <code>Node</code>.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.childnodes\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/childNodes\"><code>Node.childNodes</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a live <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList\"><code>NodeList</code></a> containing all the children of this node\n (including elements, text and comments). <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList\"><code>NodeList</code></a> being live means that\n if the children of the <code>Node</code> change, the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/NodeList\"><code>NodeList</code></a> object is\n automatically updated.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.firstchild\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/firstChild\"><code>Node.firstChild</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the first direct child node of the node,\n or <code>null</code> if the node has no child.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.isconnected\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isConnected\"><code>Node.isConnected</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n A boolean indicating whether or not the Node is connected (directly or indirectly)\n to the context object, e.g. the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document\"><code>Document</code></a> object in the case of the\n normal DOM, or the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/ShadowRoot\"><code>ShadowRoot</code></a> in the case of a shadow DOM.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.lastchild\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lastChild\"><code>Node.lastChild</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the last direct child node of the node,\n or <code>null</code> if the node has no child.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.nextsibling\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nextSibling\"><code>Node.nextSibling</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the next node in the tree, or\n <code>null</code> if there isn't such node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.nodename\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeName\"><code>Node.nodeName</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a string containing the name of the <code>Node</code>. The\n structure of the name will differ with the node type. E.g. An\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement\"><code>HTMLElement</code></a> will contain the name of the corresponding tag, like\n <code>'AUDIO'</code> for an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLAudioElement\"><code>HTMLAudioElement</code></a>, a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Text\"><code>Text</code></a>\n node will have the <code>'#text'</code> string, or a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document\"><code>Document</code></a> node will\n have the <code>'#document'</code> string.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.nodetype\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType\"><code>Node.nodeType</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns an <code>unsigned short</code> representing the type of the node. Possible\n values are:\n </p>\n <figure class=\"table-container\"><table>\n <thead>\n <tr>\n <th>Name</th>\n <th>Value</th>\n </tr>\n </thead>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <td><code>ELEMENT_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>1</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>ATTRIBUTE_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>2</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>TEXT_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>3</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>CDATA_SECTION_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>4</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>7</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>COMMENT_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>8</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>DOCUMENT_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>9</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>10</code></td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td><code>DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE</code></td>\n <td><code>11</code></td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n </table></figure>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.nodevalue\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeValue\"><code>Node.nodeValue</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Returns / Sets the value of the current node.</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.ownerdocument\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/ownerDocument\"><code>Node.ownerDocument</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document\"><code>Document</code></a> that this node belongs to. If the node is itself\n a document, returns <code>null</code>.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.parentnode\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentNode\"><code>Node.parentNode</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a <code>Node</code> that is the parent of this node. If there is no such\n node, like if this node is the top of the tree or if doesn't participate in a tree,\n this property returns <code>null</code>.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.parentelement\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/parentElement\"><code>Node.parentElement</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element\"><code>Element</code></a> that is the parent of this node. If the node has\n no parent, or if that parent is not an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element\"><code>Element</code></a>, this property returns\n <code>null</code>.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.previoussibling\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/previousSibling\"><code>Node.previousSibling</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline readonly\" title=\"This value may not be changed.\">Read only </span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a <code>Node</code> representing the previous node in the tree, or\n <code>null</code> if there isn't such node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.textcontent\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/textContent\"><code>Node.textContent</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Returns / Sets the textual content of an element and all its descendants.</p>\n </dd>\n</dl>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"instance_methods","title":"Instance methods","isH3":false,"content":"<p><em>In addition to the methods below, <code>Node</code> inherits methods from its parent, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget\"><code>EventTarget</code></a>.</em></p>\n<dl>\n <dt id=\"node.appendchild\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/appendChild\"><code>Node.appendChild()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Adds the specified <code>childNode</code> argument as the last child to the current node.\n If the argument referenced an existing node on the DOM tree, the node will be detached\n from its current position and attached at the new position.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.clonenode\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/cloneNode\"><code>Node.cloneNode()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Clone a <code>Node</code>, and optionally, all of its contents. By default, it\n clones the content of the node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.comparedocumentposition\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/compareDocumentPosition\"><code>Node.compareDocumentPosition()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Compares the position of the current node against another node in any other document.</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.contains\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/contains\"><code>Node.contains()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns <code>true</code> or <code>false</code> value indicating whether or not a node is a\n descendant of the calling node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.getrootnode\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/getRootNode\"><code>Node.getRootNode()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Returns the context object's root which optionally includes the shadow root if it is available.</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.haschildnodes\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/hasChildNodes\"><code>Node.hasChildNodes()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the element has any child nodes.</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.insertbefore\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/insertBefore\"><code>Node.insertBefore()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Inserts a <code>Node</code> before the reference node as a child of a specified\n parent node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.isdefaultnamespace\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isDefaultNamespace\"><code>Node.isDefaultNamespace()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Accepts a namespace URI as an argument and returns a boolean value with a\n value of <code>true</code> if the namespace is the default namespace on the given node\n or <code>false</code> if not.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.isequalnode\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isEqualNode\"><code>Node.isEqualNode()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a boolean value which indicates whether or not two nodes are of the\n same type and all their defining data points match.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.issamenode\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/isSameNode\"><code>Node.isSameNode()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the two nodes are\n the same (that is, they reference the same object).\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.lookupprefix\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupPrefix\"><code>Node.lookupPrefix()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Returns a string containing the prefix for a given namespace URI,\n if present, and <code>null</code> if not. When multiple prefixes are possible, the\n result is implementation-dependent.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.lookupnamespaceuri\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/lookupNamespaceURI\"><code>Node.lookupNamespaceURI()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Accepts a prefix and returns the namespace URI associated with it on the given node\n if found (and <code>null</code> if not). Supplying <code>null</code> for the prefix\n will return the default namespace.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.normalize\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/normalize\"><code>Node.normalize()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>Clean up all the text nodes under this element (merge adjacent, remove empty).</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.removechild\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/removeChild\"><code>Node.removeChild()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Removes a child node from the current element, which must be a child of the current\n node.\n </p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"node.replacechild\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/replaceChild\"><code>Node.replaceChild()</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n Replaces one child <code>Node</code> of the current one with the second one given\n in parameter.\n </p>\n </dd>\n</dl>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"examples","title":"Examples","isH3":false,"content":""}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"remove_all_children_nested_within_a_node","title":"Remove all children nested within a node","isH3":true,"content":"<p>This function remove each first child of an element, until there are none left.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">js</span></div><pre class=\"brush: js notranslate\"><code>function removeAllChildren(element) {\n while (element.firstChild) {\n element.removeChild(element.firstChild);\n }\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Using this function is a single call. Here we empty the body of the document:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">js</span></div><pre class=\"brush: js notranslate\"><code>removeAllChildren(document.body);\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>An alternative could be to set the textContent to the empty string: <code>document.body.textContent = \"\"</code>.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"recurse_through_child_nodes","title":"Recurse through child nodes","isH3":true,"content":"<p>\n The following function recursively calls a callback function for each node contained by\n a root node (including the root itself):\n</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">js</span></div><pre class=\"brush: js notranslate\"><code>function eachNode(rootNode, callback) {\n if (!callback) {\n const nodes = [];\n eachNode(rootNode, (node) => {\n nodes.push(node);\n });\n return nodes;\n }\n\n if (callback(rootNode) === false) {\n return false;\n }\n\n if (rootNode.hasChildNodes()) {\n for (const node of rootNode.childNodes) {\n if (eachNode(node, callback) === false) {\n return;\n }\n }\n }\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>\n The function recursively calls a function for each descendant node of\n <code>rootNode</code> (including the root itself).\n</p>\n<p>\n If <code>callback</code> is omitted, the function returns an\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array\"><code>Array</code></a> instead, which contains <code>rootNode</code> and all\n nodes contained within.\n</p>\n<p>\n If <code>callback</code> is provided, and it returns\n <code>false</code> when called, the current recursion level is aborted, and the function\n resumes execution at the last parent's level. This can be used to abort loops once a\n node has been found (such as searching for a text node which contains a certain string).\n</p>\n<p>The function has two parameters:</p>\n<dl>\n <dt id=\"rootnode\"><a href=\"#rootnode\"><code>rootNode</code></a></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>The <code>Node</code> object whose descendants will be recursed through.</p>\n </dd>\n <dt id=\"callback\"><a href=\"#callback\"><code>callback</code></a> <span class=\"badge inline optional\">Optional</span></dt>\n <dd>\n <p>\n An optional callback <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function\">function</a> that\n receives a <code>Node</code> as its only argument. If omitted, <code>eachNode</code>\n returns an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array\"><code>Array</code></a> of every node contained within\n <code>rootNode</code> (including the root itself).\n </p>\n </dd>\n</dl>\n<p>\n The following demonstrates a real-world use of the <code>eachNode()</code> function:\n searching for text on a web-page.\n</p>\n<p>We use a wrapper function named <code>grep</code> to do the searching:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">js</span></div><pre class=\"brush: js notranslate\"><code>function grep(parentNode, pattern) {\n let matches = [];\n let endScan = false;\n\n eachNode(parentNode, (node) => {\n if (endScan) {\n return false;\n }\n\n // Ignore anything which isn't a text node\n if (node.nodeType !== Node.TEXT_NODE) {\n return;\n }\n\n if (typeof pattern === \"string\" && node.textContent.includes(pattern)) {\n matches.push(node);\n } else if (pattern.test(node.textContent)) {\n if (!pattern.global) {\n endScan = true;\n matches = node;\n } else {\n matches.push(node);\n }\n }\n });\n\n return matches;\n}\n</code></pre></div>"}},{"type":"specifications","value":{"title":"Specifications","id":"specifications","isH3":false,"specifications":[{"bcdSpecificationURL":"https://dom.spec.whatwg.org/#interface-node","title":"DOM Standard"}],"query":"api.Node"}},{"type":"browser_compatibility","value":{"title":"Browser compatibility","id":"browser_compatibility","isH3":false,"query":"api.Node"}}],"toc":[{"text":"Instance properties","id":"instance_properties"},{"text":"Instance methods","id":"instance_methods"},{"text":"Examples","id":"examples"},{"text":"Specifications","id":"specifications"},{"text":"Browser compatibility","id":"browser_compatibility"}],"summary":"The DOM Node interface is an abstract base\n class upon which many other DOM API objects are based, thus letting those object types\n to be used similarly and often interchangeably. As an abstract class, there is\n no such thing as a plain Node object. All objects that implement\n Node functionality are based on one of its subclasses. Most notable are\n Document, Element, and DocumentFragment.","popularity":0.0215,"modified":"2024-07-11T22:43:15.000Z","other_translations":[{"locale":"de","title":"Node","native":"Deutsch"},{"locale":"es","title":"Node","native":"Español"},{"locale":"fr","title":"Node","native":"Français"},{"locale":"ja","title":"Node","native":"日本語"},{"locale":"pt-BR","title":"Node","native":"Português (do Brasil)"},{"locale":"ru","title":"Node","native":"Русский"},{"locale":"zh-CN","title":"Node","native":"中文 (简体)"}],"pageType":"web-api-interface","source":{"folder":"en-us/web/api/node","github_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/web/api/node/index.md","last_commit_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/commit/90d61cc4fa9e53f74183be66f58d33aa8d7c629a","filename":"index.md"},"short_title":"Node","parents":[{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Web","title":"References"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Web/API","title":"Web APIs"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node","title":"Node"}],"pageTitle":"Node - Web APIs | MDN","noIndexing":false}}</script></body></html>