ParentNode.querySelectorAll()

The ParentNode mixin defines the querySelectorAll() method as returning a NodeList representing a list of elements matching the specified group of selectors which are descendants of the object on which the method was called.

If you need only a single result, consider the querySelector() method instead.

Syntax

elementList = parentNode.querySelectorAll(selectors);

Parameters

selectors

A DOMString containing one or more selectors to match against. This string must be a valid CSS selector string; if it's not, a SyntaxError exception is thrown. See Locating DOM elements using selectors for more information about using selectors to identify elements. Multiple selectors may be specified by separating them using commas.

Return value

A non-live NodeList containing one Element object for each descendant node that matches at least one of the specified selectors.

Exceptions

SyntaxError

The syntax of the specified selectors string is not valid.

Examples

To obtain a NodeList of all of the <p> elements in the document:

var matches = document.querySelectorAll("p");

This example returns a list of all <div> elements within the document with a class of either note or alert:

var matches = document.querySelectorAll("div.note, div.alert");

Here, we get a list of <p> elements whose immediate parent element is a <div> with the class highlighted and which are located inside a container whose ID is test.

var container = document.querySelector("#test");
var matches = container.querySelectorAll("div.highlighted > p");

This example uses an attribute selector to return a list of the <iframe> elements in the document that contain an attribute named data-src:

var matches = document.querySelectorAll("iframe[data-src]");

Here, an attribute selector is used to return a list of the list items contained within a list whose ID is userlist which have a data-active attribute whose value is 1:

var container = document.querySelector("#userlist");
var matches = container.querySelectorAll("li[data-active=1]");

User notes

querySelectorAll() behaves differently than most common JavaScript DOM libraries, which might lead to unexpected results.

HTML

Consider this HTML, with its three nested <div> blocks.

<div class="outer">
  <div class="select">
    <div class="inner">
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

JavaScript

var select = document.querySelector('.select');
var inner = select.querySelectorAll('.outer .inner');
inner.length; // 1, not 0!

In this example, when selecting .outer .inner in the context the <div> with the class select, the element with the class .inner is still found, even though .outer is not a descendant of the base element on which the search is performed (.select). By default, querySelectorAll() only verifies that the last element in the selector is within the search scope.

The :scope pseudo-class restores the expected behavior, only matching selectors on descendants of the base element:

var select = document.querySelector('.select');
var inner = select.querySelectorAll(':scope .outer .inner');
inner.length; // 0

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Locating DOM elements using selectors
• Code snippets for querySelector()
• Attribute selectors in the CSS Guide
• Attribute selectors in the MDN Learning Area
• This method is available as Element.querySelectorAll(), Document.querySelectorAll(), and DocumentFragment.querySelectorAll()