The NonDocumentTypeChildNode.previousElementSibling
read-only property returns the Element
immediately prior to the specified one in its parent's children list, or null
if the specified element is the first one in the list.
Syntax
prevNode = elementNodeReference.previousElementSibling;
Example
<div id="div-01">Here is div-01</div> <div id="div-02">Here is div-02</div> <li>This is a list item</li> <li>This is another list item</li> <div id="div-03">Here is div-03</div> <script> let el = document.getElementById('div-03').previousElementSibling; document.write('<p>Siblings of div-03</p><ol>'); while (el) { document.write('<li>' + el.nodeName + '</li>'); el = el.previousElementSibling; } document.write('</ol>'); </script>
This example outputs the following into the page when it loads:
Siblings of div-03 1. LI 2. LI 3. DIV 4. DIV
Polyfills
Polyfill for Internet Explorer 8
This property is unsupported prior to IE9, so the following snippet can be used to add support to IE8:
// Source: https://github.com/Alhadis/Snippets/blob/master/js/polyfills/IE8-child-elements.js if(!("previousElementSibling" in document.documentElement)){ Object.defineProperty(Element.prototype, "previousElementSibling", { get: function(){ var e = this.previousSibling; while(e && 1 !== e.nodeType) e = e.previousSibling; return e; } }); }
Polyfill for Internet Explorer 9+ and Safari
// Source: https://github.com/jserz/js_piece/blob/master/DOM/NonDocumentTypeChildNode/previousElementSibling/previousElementSibling.md (function (arr) { arr.forEach(function (item) { if (item.hasOwnProperty('previousElementSibling')) { return; } Object.defineProperty(item, 'previousElementSibling', { configurable: true, enumerable: true, get: function () { let el = this; while (el = el.previousSibling) { if (el.nodeType === 1) { return el; } } return null; }, set: undefined }); }); })([Element.prototype, CharacterData.prototype]);
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
DOM The definition of 'NonDocumentTypeChildNode.previousElementSibling' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Splitted the ElementTraversal interface in ChildNode , ParentNode , and NonDocumentTypeChildNode . This method is now defined on the former.The Element and CharacterData interfaces implemented the new interface. |
Element Traversal Specification The definition of 'ElementTraversal.previousElementSibling' in that specification. |
Obsolete | Added its initial definition to the ElementTraversal pure interface and use it on Element . |
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 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
previousElementSibling | Chrome Full support 4 | Edge
Full support
12
| Firefox Full support 3.5 | IE
Partial support
9
| Opera Full support 10 | Safari Full support 4 | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 10.1 | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Partial support
- Partial support
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
See also
- The
NonDocumentTypeChildNode
pure interface. -
Object types implementing this pure interface:
CharacterData
, andElement
.