HTMLSelectElement.add()

The HTMLSelectElement.add() method adds an element to the collection of option elements for this select element.

Syntax

collection.add(item[, before]);

Parameters

• item is an HTMLOptionElement or HTMLOptGroupElement
• before is optional and an element of the collection, or an index of type long, representing the item item should be inserted before. If this parameter is null (or the index does not exist), the new element is appended to the end of the collection.

Exceptions

• A DOMError of the type HierarchyRequestError if the item passed to the method is an ancestor of the HTMLSelectElement.

Examples

Creating Elements from Scratch

var sel = document.createElement("select");
var opt1 = document.createElement("option");
var opt2 = document.createElement("option");

opt1.value = "1";
opt1.text = "Option: Value 1";

opt2.value = "2";
opt2.text = "Option: Value 2";

sel.add(opt1, null);
sel.add(opt2, null);

/*
  Produces the following, conceptually:

  <select>
    <option value="1">Option: Value 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option: Value 2</option>
  </select>
*/

The before parameter is optional. So the following is accepted.

...
sel.add(opt1);
sel.add(opt2);
...

Append to an Existing Collection

var sel = document.getElementById("existingList");

var opt = document.createElement("option");
opt.value = "3";
opt.text = "Option: Value 3";

sel.add(opt, null);

/*
  Takes the existing following select object:

  <select id="existingList">
    <option value="1">Option: Value 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option: Value 2</option>
  </select>

  And changes it to:

  <select id="existingList">
    <option value="1">Option: Value 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option: Value 2</option>
    <option value="3">Option: Value 3</option>
  </select>
*/

The before parameter is optional. So the following is accepted.

...
sel.add(opt);
...

Inserting to an Existing Collection

var sel = document.getElementById("existingList");

var opt = document.createElement("option");
opt.value = "3";
opt.text = "Option: Value 3";

sel.add(opt, sel.options[1]);

/*
  Takes the existing following select object:

  <select id="existingList">
    <option value="1">Option: Value 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option: Value 2</option>
  </select>

  And changes it to:

  <select id="existingList">
    <option value="1">Option: Value 1</option>
    <option value="3">Option: Value 3</option>
    <option value="2">Option: Value 2</option>
  </select>
*/

Specifications

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.