The Node.compareDocumentPosition()
method reports the position of the given node relative to another node in any document — not just the given nodeβs document.
The return value is a bitmask of the following values:
Name | Value |
---|---|
DOCUMENT_POSITION_DISCONNECTED |
1 |
DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING |
2 |
DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING |
4 |
DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS |
8 |
DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINED_BY |
16 |
DOCUMENT_POSITION_IMPLEMENTATION_SPECIFIC |
32 |
Syntax
compareMask = node.compareDocumentPosition(otherNode)
Parameters
otherNode
- The other
Node
with which to compare the firstnode
βs document position.
Return value
An integer value whose bits represent the otherNode
's relationship to the calling node
.
More than one bit is set if multiple scenarios apply. For example, if otherNode
is located earlier in the document and contains the node
on which compareDocumentPosition()
was called, then both the DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS
and DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING
bits would be set, producing a value of 10 (0x0A
).
Example
const head = document.head; const body = document.body; if (head.compareDocumentPosition(body) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING) { console.log('Well-formed document'); } else { console.error('<head> is not before <body>'); }
Note: Because the result returned by compareDocumentPosition()
is a bitmask, the bitwise AND operator must be used for meaningful results.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
DOM The definition of 'Node.compareDocumentPosition()' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.compareDocumentPosition()' 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 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compareDocumentPosition | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 9 | IE
Full support
9
| Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 9 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.