getElementsByTagName

Summary

Returns an HTMLCollection of all descendant elements with a given tag name.

Syntax

var object = object.getElementsByTagName(/* see parameter list */);

Parameters

name

Data-type: String

The name of an element tag.

Return Value

Returns an object of type DOM NodeDOM Node

A DOM collection of elements with the given tag name.

Examples

The following example returns the number of li elements (10) and the text of the first one (“Item 1”).

<!doctype html>
<html>
 <head>
  <script>
function printFirstLIText(){
  var aReturn = document.getElementsByTagName("LI");
  alert("Length: " + aReturn.length + "\nFirst Item: " + aReturn[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
}
  </script>
 </head>
 <body>

  <ul onclick="printFirstLIText()">
   <li>Item 1
    <ul>
     <li>Sub Item 1.1
      <ol>
       <li>Super Sub Item 1.1</li>
       <li>Super Sub Item 1.2</li>
      </ol>
     </li>
     <li>Sub Item 1.2</li>
     <li>Sub Item 1.3</li>
    </ul>
   </li>
   <li>Item 2
    <ul>
     <li>Sub Item 2.1
     <li>Sub Item 2.3
    </ul>
   </li>
   <li>Item 3</li>
  </ul>

 </body>
</html>

Usage

 Use this method to get a collection of all child and nested child elements with the specified tag name.

Related specifications

DOM Level 2 HTML: Recommendation

Attributions

Microsoft Developer Network: [Windows Internet Explorer API reference Article]