ParentNode.childElementCount

The ParentNode.childElementCount read-only property returns an unsigned long representing the number of child elements of the given element.

Syntax

var count = node.childElementCount;

count

The return value, which is an unsigned long (simply an integer) type.

node

An object representing a Document, DocumentFragment, or Element.

Example

var foo = document.getElementById('foo');
if (foo.childElementCount > 0) {
  // Do something
}

Polyfill for IE8 & IE9 & Safari

This property is completely unsupported prior to IE9. In IE9 and Safari, it is unsupported in the Document and DocumentFragment objects.

;(function(constructor) {
  if (constructor &&
      constructor.prototype &&
      constructor.prototype.childElementCount == null) {
    Object.defineProperty(constructor.prototype, 'childElementCount', {
      get: function() {
        var i = 0, count = 0, node, nodes = this.childNodes;
        while (node = nodes[i++]) {
          if (node.nodeType === 1) count++;
        }
        return count;
      }
    });
  }
})(window.Node || window.Element);

Specification

Browser compatibility

See also

• The ParentNode and ChildNode pure interfaces.
• Object types implementing this pure interface: Document, Element, and DocumentFragment.