HTML DOM childNodes Property

Last Updated : 13 Jun, 2023

The childNodes property returns a node's child nodes as a nodeList object. White spaces and comments are also considered as nodes. The nodes are assigned index numbers, starting from 0. Searching and sorting operations can be performed using index number on the node list. Syntax:

elementNodeReference.childNodes;

Return Value: It returns a collection of child nodes of a particular node as a nodeList object (including white spaces, texts, and comments, which are considered as nodes). Properties:

length property: It determines the number of child nodes of the object. It is a read only property. Syntax:

elementNodeReference.childNodes.length;

elementNodeReference.childNodes[index_number].length;

Example-1: Showing length property.

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<body>
    <h1><center>Geeks
    <button onclick="node()">Press</button>
   </center> </h1>

        <h4>Clicking on the 'Press' button will return 
          the length of childNodes[0].</h4>

    <p id="gfg"></p>

    <script>
        function node() {
          
            // Return the length of child node.
            var c = document.getElementsByTagName(
              "BUTTON")[0];
            var x = c.childNodes[0].length;
            document.getElementById("gfg").innerHTML = x;
        }
    </script>

</body>

</html>

Output: Before clicking on the button: After clicking on the button:
nodeName property: It returns the name of the specified node. If the node is an element node, it will return the tag name else if the node is an attribute node, it will return the attribute name else for different node types, different names will be returned. Syntax:

elementNodeReference.childNodes[index_number].nodeName;

Example-2: Showing nodeName property

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<body>
    <h1><center>Geeks 
      <button onclick="node()">Press
      </button></center> </h1>

        <h4>Clicking on the 'Press' button will 
          return the node name of childNodes[0].</h4>

    <p id="gfg"></p>

    <script>
        function node() {
          
            //  Return the name of specific node name.
            var c = document.getElementsByTagName(
              "BUTTON")[0];
            var x = c.childNodes[0].nodeName;
            document.getElementById("gfg").innerHTML = x;
        }
    </script>

</body>

</html>

Output: Before clicking on the button: After clicking on the button:
nodeValue property: It sets or returns the node value of the specified node. Syntax:

elementNodeReference.childNodes[index_number].nodeValue;

Example-3: Showing nodeValue property

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<body>
    <h1><center>Geeks 
      <button onclick="node()">Press
      </button></center> </h1>

        <h4>Clicking on the 'Press' button will 
          return the node value of childNodes[0].</h4>

    <p id="gfg"></p>

    <script>
        function node() {
          
          
            // Return the node value.
            var c = document.getElementsByTagName("BUTTON")[0];
            var x = c.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
            document.getElementById("gfg").innerHTML = x;
        }
    </script>

</body>

</html>