Document.anchors - Web APIs

Deprecated
This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The anchors read-only property of the Document interface returns a list of all of the anchors in the document.

Syntax

nodeList = document.anchors;

Value

An HTMLCollection.

Example

if (document.anchors.length >= 5) {
  dump("found too many anchors");
}

The following is an example that auto populates a Table of Contents with every anchor on the page:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>Test</title>
<script>
function init() {
  var toc = document.getElementById("toc");
  var i, li, newAnchor;
  for (i = 0; i < document.anchors.length; i++) {
    li = document.createElement("li");
    newAnchor = document.createElement('a');
    newAnchor.href = "#" + document.anchors[i].name;
    newAnchor.innerHTML = document.anchors[i].text;
    li.appendChild(newAnchor);
    toc.appendChild(li);
  }
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="init()">

<h1>Title</h1>
<h2><a name="contents">Contents</a></h2>
<ul id="toc"></ul>

<h2><a name="plants">Plants</a></h2>
<ol>
  <li>Apples</li>
  <li>Oranges</li>
  <li>Pears</li>
</ol>

<h2><a name="veggies">Veggies</a></h2>
<ol>
  <li>Carrots</li>
  <li>Celery</li>
  <li>Beats</li>
</ol>

</body>
</html>

View on JSFiddle

Notes

For reasons of backwards compatibility, the returned set of anchors only contains those anchors created with the name attribute, not those created with the id attribute.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living Standard The definition of 'Document.anchors' in that specification.	Living Standard	Obsoleted.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification The definition of 'Document.anchors' in that specification.	Obsolete	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`anchors` Deprecated	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE ?	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.: Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.