Element.attributes

The Element.attributes property returns a live collection of all attribute nodes registered to the specified node. It is a NamedNodeMap, not an Array, so it has no Array methods and the Attr nodes' indexes may differ among browsers. To be more specific, attributes is a key/value pair of strings that represents any information regarding that attribute.

Syntax

var attr = element.attributes;

Example

Basic examples

// Get the first <p> element in the document
var para = document.getElementsByTagName("p")[0];
var atts = para.attributes;

Enumerating elements attributes

Numerical indexing is useful for going through all of an element's attributes.
The following example runs through the attribute nodes for the element in the document with id "paragraph", and prints each attribute's value.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

 <head>
  <title>Attributes example</title>
  <script type="text/javascript">
   function listAttributes() {
     var paragraph = document.getElementById("paragraph");
     var result = document.getElementById("result");

     // First, let's verify that the paragraph has some attributes
     if (paragraph.hasAttributes()) {
       var attrs = paragraph.attributes;
       var output = "";
       for(var i = attrs.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
         output += attrs[i].name + "->" + attrs[i].value;
       }
       result.value = output;
     } else {
       result.value = "No attributes to show";
     }
   }
  </script>
 </head>

<body>
 <p id="paragraph" style="color: green;">Sample Paragraph</p>
 <form action="">
  <p>
    <input type="button" value="Show first attribute name and value"
      onclick="listAttributes();">
    <input id="result" type="text" value="">
  </p>
 </form>
</body>
</html>

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
DOM
The definition of 'Element.attributes' in that specification.
Living Standard From Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification, moved from Node to Element
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification
The definition of 'Element.attributes' in that specification.
Obsolete No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification
The definition of 'Element.attributes' in that specification.
Obsolete No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification
The definition of 'Element.attributes' in that specification.
Obsolete Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
attributesChrome Full support 26Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 22IE Full support 5.5Opera Full support 8Safari Full support 6WebView Android Full support ≤37Chrome Android Full support 26Firefox Android Full support 22Opera Android Full support 10.1Safari iOS Full support 6Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5

Legend

Full support
Full support

See also

  • NamedNodeMap, the interface of the returned object
  • Cross-browser compatibility considerations: on quirksmode