HTML DOM nodeType attribute

HTML DOM Element Object

The nodeType read-only property returns the node type of the specified node in numeric form.

The nodeType attribute can be used to distinguish between different types of nodes, such as elements, text, and comments.

If the node is an element node, the nodeType attribute will return1.

If the node is an attribute node, the nodeType attribute will return2.

If the node is a text node, the nodeType attribute will return3.

If the node is a comment node, the nodeType attribute will return8.

Syntax:

node.nodeType

var x = document.getElementById("myPara").nodeType;

Browser Compatibility

All browsers fully support the nodeType attribute:

Technical Details

Node type-Named constant

More examples

This example checks if the first node within the document element is a comment node, and if not, it displays a message:

var node = document.documentElement.firstChild;
if (node.nodeType != Node.COMMENT_NODE) {
　　　alert("You should comment your code well!");
　}

Return the node name, node type, and node value of the first child of the div element:

<div id="div-1">This is a div element.</div>
<script>
var x = document.getElementById("div-1).firstChild;
var txt = "";
txt　+= "The node name: "　+　x.nodeName　+　"<br>";
txt　+= "The node value: "　+　x.nodeValue　+　"<br>";
txt　+= "The node type: "　+　x.nodeType;
document.getElementById("para").innerHTML = txt;
</script>

Related References

HTML DOM Reference:node .nodeName property

HTML DOM Reference:node .nodeValue property

HTML DOM Reference:node .childNodes property

HTML DOM Element Object