children vs childNodes
Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Created
04 Sep, 2023
Category
DOM
If you're using the JavaScript Document Object Model (DOM) to access an element's child nodes, you have two options:
`children` and `childNodes`. Although these properties may seem similar at first glance, they actually work a bit differently. Let's dive in!To show the contrast between two properties, let's imagine you have an unordered list (
`ul`) with a comment node (wrapped inside `<!-- and -->`), and three list items (`li`).html
<ul>
<!-- Here are some sample items -->
<li>A</li>
<li>B</li>
<li>C</li>
</ul>#The children property
The
`children` property is pretty handy. It lets you grab all of the child elements of an element, but not any non-element nodes like text or comment nodes.Here's an example:
js
const parent = document.querySelector('ul');
const children = parent.children;
console.log(children.length); // 3You can use the
`querySelector` method to grab the list element, and then use the `children` property to get all of its child elements. Easy-peasy!#The childNodes property
On the other hand, the
`childNodes` property returns all of the child nodes of an element, including non-element nodes like text or comment nodes.To help you understand this concept better, here's an example:
js
const parent = document.querySelector('ul');
const childNodes = parent.childNodes;
console.log(childNodes.length); // 4In this example, we use the
`querySelector` method to select the list element. Then, we retrieve a collection of all the child nodes of the parent element using the `childNodes` property.It's important to note that, unlike the
`children` property, the `childNodes` property includes the comment node `<!-- Here are some sample items -->`. This is why the `childNodes.length` returns the number 4.Good to knowBoth`children`and`childNodes`return a collection of nodes that is constantly updated. To learn more, check out the Dynamic vs static NodeList post.
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Phước Nguyễn