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alignContent alignItems alignSelf animation animationDelay animationDirection animationDuration animationFillMode animationIterationCount animationName animationTimingFunction animationPlayState background backgroundAttachment backgroundClip backgroundColor backgroundImage backgroundOrigin backgroundPosition backgroundRepeat backgroundSize backfaceVisibility border borderBottom borderBottomColor borderBottomLeftRadius borderBottomRightRadius borderBottomStyle borderBottomWidth borderCollapse borderColor borderImage borderImageOutset borderImageRepeat borderImageSlice borderImageSource borderImageWidth borderLeft borderLeftColor borderLeftStyle borderLeftWidth borderRadius borderRight borderRightColor borderRightStyle borderRightWidth borderSpacing borderStyle borderTop borderTopColor borderTopLeftRadius borderTopRightRadius borderTopStyle borderTopWidth borderWidth bottom boxShadow boxSizing captionSide caretColor clear clip color columnCount columnFill columnGap columnRule columnRuleColor columnRuleStyle columnRuleWidth columns columnSpan columnWidth counterIncrement counterReset cssFloat cursor direction display emptyCells filter flex flexBasis flexDirection flexFlow flexGrow flexShrink flexWrap font fontFamily fontSize fontStyle fontVariant fontWeight fontSizeAdjust height isolation justifyContent left letterSpacing lineHeight listStyle listStyleImage listStylePosition listStyleType margin marginBottom marginLeft marginRight marginTop maxHeight maxWidth minHeight minWidth objectFit objectPosition opacity order orphans outline outlineColor outlineOffset outlineStyle outlineWidth overflow overflowX overflowY padding paddingBottom paddingLeft paddingRight paddingTop pageBreakAfter pageBreakBefore pageBreakInside perspective perspectiveOrigin position quotes resize right scrollBehavior tableLayout tabSize textAlign textAlignLast textDecoration textDecorationColor textDecorationLine textDecorationStyle textIndent textOverflow textShadow textTransform top transform transformOrigin transformStyle transition transitionProperty transitionDuration transitionTimingFunction transitionDelay unicodeBidi userSelect verticalAlign visibility width wordBreak wordSpacing wordWrap widows zIndex

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HTML Objects

<a> <abbr> <address> <area> <article> <aside> <audio> <b> <base> <bdo> <blockquote> <body> <br> <button> <canvas> <caption> <cite> <code> <col> <colgroup> <datalist> <dd> <del> <details> <dfn> <dialog> <div> <dl> <dt> <em> <embed> <fieldset> <figcaption> <figure> <footer> <form> <head> <header> <h1> - <h6> <hr> <html> <i> <iframe> <img> <ins> <input> button <input> checkbox <input> color <input> date <input> datetime <input> datetime-local <input> email <input> file <input> hidden <input> image <input> month <input> number <input> password <input> radio <input> range <input> reset <input> search <input> submit <input> text <input> time <input> url <input> week <kbd> <label> <legend> <li> <link> <map> <mark> <menu> <menuitem> <meta> <meter> <nav> <object> <ol> <optgroup> <option> <output> <p> <param> <pre> <progress> <q> <s> <samp> <script> <section> <select> <small> <source> <span> <strong> <style> <sub> <summary> <sup> <table> <tbody> <td> <tfoot> <th> <thead> <tr> <textarea> <time> <title> <track> <u> <ul> <var> <video>

Other References

CSSStyleDeclaration JS Conversion


HTML DOM Element children

Example

Get a collection of the <body> element's children:

const collection = document.body.children;
Try it Yourself »

More examples below.


Definition and Usage

The children property returns a collection of an element's child elements.

The children property returns an HTMLCollection object.

HTML Nodes vs Elements

In the HTML DOM (Document Object Model), an HTML document is a collection of nodes with (or without) child nodes.

Nodes are element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes.

Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

Elements are only element nodes.


childNodes vs children

childNodes returns child nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).

children returns child elements (not text and comment nodes).


Siblings vs Element Siblings

Siblings are "brothers" and "sisters".

Siblings are nodes with the same parent (in the same childNodes list).

Element Siblings are elements with the same parent (in the same children list).


Syntax

element.children

Return Value

Type Description
ObjectA HTMLCollection object.
The collection of element nodes.
The elements are sorted as they appear in the document.


More Examples

How many children does "myDIV" have:

let count = document.getElementById("myDIV").children.length;
Try it Yourself »

Change the background of the second child element of "myDIV":

const collection = document.getElementById("myDIV").children;
collection[1].style.backgroundColor = "yellow";
Try it Yourself »

Get the text of the third child element (index 2) of a <select> element:

const collection = document.getElementById("mySelect").children[2].text;
Try it Yourself »

Loop all children of <body> and change their background:

const collection = document.body.children;
for (let i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
  collection[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Browser Support

element.children is a DOM Level 1 (1998) feature.

It is fully supported in all browsers:

Chrome IE Edge Firefox Safari Opera
Yes 9-11 Yes Yes Yes Yes