The read-only Node.nodeType
property is an integer that identifies what the node is. It distinguishes different kind of nodes from each other, such as elements
, text
and comments
.
Syntax
var type = node.nodeType;
Returns an integer which specifies the type of the node. Possible values are listed in Node type constants.
Constants
Node type constants
Constant | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Node.ELEMENT_NODE |
1 |
An Element node like <p> or <div> . |
Node.TEXT_NODE |
3 |
The actual Text inside an Element or Attr . |
Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE |
4 |
A CDATASection , such as <!CDATA[[ β¦ ]]> . |
Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE |
7 |
A ProcessingInstruction of an XML document, such as <?xml-stylesheet β¦ ?> . |
Node.COMMENT_NODE |
8 |
A Comment node, such as <!-- β¦ --> . |
Node.DOCUMENT_NODE |
9 |
A Document node. |
Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE |
10 |
A DocumentType node, such as <!DOCTYPE html> . |
Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE |
11 |
A DocumentFragment node. |
Deprecated node type constants
The following constants have been deprecated and should not be used anymore.
Constant | Value | Description |
Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE |
2 | An Attribute of an Element . Attributes no longer implement the Node interface as of DOM4. |
Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE |
5 | An XML Entity Reference node, such as &foo; . Removed in DOM4. |
Node.ENTITY_NODE |
6 | An XML <!ENTITY β¦> node. Removed in DOM4. |
Node.NOTATION_NODE |
12 | An XML <!NOTATION β¦> node. Removed in DOM4. |
Examples
Different types of nodes
document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE; // true document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE; // true document.createDocumentFragment().nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE; // true var p = document.createElement("p"); p.textContent = "Once upon a timeβ¦"; p.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE; // true p.firstChild.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE; // true
Comments
This example checks if the first node inside the document element is a comment, and displays a message if not.
var node = document.documentElement.firstChild; if (node.nodeType !== Node.COMMENT_NODE) { console.warn("You should comment your code!"); }
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
DOM The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Deprecated ATTRIBUTE_NODE , ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE and NOTATION_NODE types. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Obsolete | No changes. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Obsolete | No changes. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Obsolete | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on 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.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nodeType | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 6 | Opera Full support 7 | Safari Full support 1.1 | WebView Android Full support 1 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 10.1 | Safari iOS Full support 1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support