The document object represents your web page and provides the easiest way to access any element in an HTML page.
Here are a few examples of how to access and modify HTML using the document object.
Finding HTML Elements
Method |
Description |
document.getElementById(id) |
Find an element by element id |
document.getElementsByTagName(name) |
Find elements by tag name |
document.getElementsByClassName(name) |
Find elements by class name |
Changing HTML Elements
Property |
Description |
element.innerHTML = Set new content |
Change the inner HTML of an element |
element.attribute = Set new value |
Change the attribute value of an HTML element |
element.style.property = Set new style |
Change the style of an HTML element |
Adding and Deleting Elements
Method |
Description |
document.createElement(element) |
Create an HTML element |
document.removeChild(element) |
Remove an HTML element |
document.appendChild(element) |
Add an HTML element |
document.replaceChild(new, old) |
Replace an HTML element |
document.write(text) |
Write into the HTML output stream |
Adding Events Handlers
Method |
Description |
document.getElementById(id).onclick = function(){code} |
Create a function to run on click |
Other HTML Objects
Property |
Description |
document.anchors |
Returns all <a> elements that have a name attribute |
document.applets |
Deprecated |
document.baseURI |
Returns the absolute base URI of the document |
document.body |
Returns the <body> element |
document.cookie |
Returns the document’s cookie |
document.doctype |
Returns the document’s doctype |
document.documentElement |
Returns the <html> element |
document.documentMode |
Returns the mode used by the browser |
document.documentURI |
Returns the URI of the document |
document.domain |
Returns the domain name of the document server |
document.domConfig |
Obsolete |
document.embeds |
Returns all <embed> elements |
document.forms |
Returns all <form> elements |
document.head |
Returns the <head> element |
document.images |
Returns all <img> elements |
document.implementation |
Returns the DOM implementation |
document.inputEncoding |
Returns the document’s encoding (character set) |
document.lastModified |
Returns the date and time the document was updated |
document.links |
Returns all <area> and <a> elements that have a href attribute |
document.readyState |
Returns the (loading) status of the document |
document.referrer |
Returns the URI of the referrer (the linking document) |
document.scripts |
Returns all <script> elements |
document.strictErrorChecking |
Returns if error checking is enforced |
document.title |
Returns the <title> element |
document.URL |
Returns the complete URL of the document |
You can also discover a lot about Javascript by exploring different topics.
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