Tutorials References Exercises Videos Menu
Create Website Get Certified Upgrade

XML Tutorial

XML HOME XML Introduction XML How to use XML Tree XML Syntax XML Elements XML Attributes XML Namespaces XML Display XML HttpRequest XML Parser XML DOM XML XPath XML XSLT XML XQuery XML XLink XML Validator XML DTD XML Schema XML Server XML Examples XML Quiz XML Certificate

XML AJAX

AJAX Introduction AJAX XMLHttp AJAX Request AJAX Response AJAX XML File AJAX PHP AJAX ASP AJAX Database AJAX Applications AJAX Examples

XML DOM

DOM Introduction DOM Nodes DOM Accessing DOM Node Info DOM Node List DOM Traversing DOM Navigating DOM Get Values DOM Change Nodes DOM Remove Nodes DOM Replace Nodes DOM Create Nodes DOM Add Nodes DOM Clone Nodes DOM Examples

XPath Tutorial

XPath Introduction XPath Nodes XPath Syntax XPath Axes XPath Operators XPath Examples

XSLT Tutorial

XSLT Introduction XSL Languages XSLT Transform XSLT <template> XSLT <value-of> XSLT <for-each> XSLT <sort> XSLT <if> XSLT <choose> XSLT Apply XSLT on the Client XSLT on the Server XSLT Edit XML XSLT Examples

XQuery Tutorial

XQuery Introduction XQuery Example XQuery FLWOR XQuery HTML XQuery Terms XQuery Syntax XQuery Add XQuery Select XQuery Functions

XML DTD

DTD Introduction DTD Building Blocks DTD Elements DTD Attributes DTD Elements vs Attr DTD Entities DTD Examples

XSD Schema

XSD Introduction XSD How To XSD <schema> XSD Elements XSD Attributes XSD Restrictions XSD Complex Elements XSD Empty XSD Elements-only XSD Text-only XSD Mixed XSD Indicators XSD <any> XSD <anyAttribute> XSD Substitution XSD Example

XSD Data Types

XSD String XSD Date/Time XSD Numeric XSD Misc XSD Reference

Web Services

XML Services XML WSDL XML SOAP XML RDF XML RSS

References

DOM Node Types DOM Node DOM NodeList DOM NamedNodeMap DOM Document DOM Element DOM Attribute DOM Text DOM CDATA DOM Comment DOM XMLHttpRequest DOM Parser XSLT Elements XSLT/XPath Functions

XML DOM replaceChild() Method


❮ Node Object

Example

The following code fragment loads "books.xml" into xmlDoc and replaces the first <book> element:

var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
   if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
       myFunction(this);
   }
};
xhttp.open("GET", "books.xml", true);
xhttp.send();

function myFunction(xml) {
    var x, y, z, i, newNode, newTitle, newText, xmlDoc, txt;
    xmlDoc = xml.responseXML;
    txt = "";
    x = xmlDoc.documentElement;

    // Create a book element, title element and a text node
    newNode = xmlDoc.createElement("book");
    newTitle = xmlDoc.createElement("title");
    newText = xmlDoc.createTextNode("A Notebook");

    // Add a text node to the title node
    newTitle.appendChild(newText);

    // Add the title node to the book node
    newNode.appendChild(newTitle);

    y = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book")[0];

    // Replace the first book node with the new book node
    x.replaceChild(newNode, y);

    z = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("title");
    // Output all titles
    for (i = 0; i < z.length; i++) {
        txt += z[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue + "<br>";
    }
    document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = txt;
}

The output of the code above will be:

A Notebook
Harry Potter
XQuery Kick Start
Learning XML
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The replaceChild() method replaces a child node with a new node.

The new node could be an existing node in the document, or you can create a new node.

Tip: The replaced child node can be inserted later into any element in the same document. Use the insertBefore() or appendChild() method to insert it later into the same document, or use the adoptNode() or importNode() method to insert the replaced node into another document. 


Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The replaceChild() method is supported in all major browsers.


Syntax

nodeObject.replaceChild(newchild,oldchild)

Parameters

Parameter Type Description
newchild Node object Required. The new node to put in the child list
oldchild Node object Required. The node that will be replaced in the child list

Return Value

Type Description
Node object The replaced node (oldchild)

Technical Details

DOM Version Core Level 1 Node Object. Modified in DOM Level 3

❮ Node Object