The read-only Node.nodeType
property that represents the type of the node.
Description
The nodeType
property can be used to distinguish different kind of nodes, such that elements
, text
and comments
, from each other.
Syntax
var type = node.nodeType;
Returns an integer value which specifies the type of the node; possible values are listed in Node type constants.
Constants
Node type constants
Constant | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Node.ELEMENT_NODE |
1 |
An Element node such as <p> or <div> . |
Node.TEXT_NODE |
3 |
The actual Text of Element or Attr . |
Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE |
7 |
A ProcessingInstruction of an XML document such as <?xml-stylesheet ... ?> declaration. |
Node.COMMENT_NODE |
8 |
A Comment node. |
Node.DOCUMENT_NODE |
9 |
A Document node. |
Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE |
10 |
A DocumentType node e.g. <!DOCTYPE html> for HTML5 documents. |
Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE |
11 |
A DocumentFragment node. |
Deprecated node type constants
The following constants have been deprecated and should not be used anymore.
Constant | Value | Description |
Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE |
2 | An Attribute of an Element . The element attributes are no longer implementing the Node interface in DOM4 specification. |
Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE |
4 |
A CDATASection . Removed in DOM4 specification. |
Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE |
5 | An XML Entity Reference node. Removed in DOM4 specification. |
Node.ENTITY_NODE |
6 | An XML <!ENTITY ...> node. Removed in DOM4 specification. |
Node.NOTATION_NODE |
12 | An XML <!NOTATION ...> node. Removed in DOM4 specification. |
Examples
Different types of nodes
document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE; // true
document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE; // true
var fragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
fragment.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE; // true
var p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time...";
p.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE; // true
p.firstChild.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE; // true
Comments
This example checks if the first node inside the document element is a comment node, and if it is not, displays a message.
var node = document.documentElement.firstChild; if (node.nodeType != Node.COMMENT_NODE) console.log("You should comment your code well!");
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
DOM The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Deprecated ATTRIBUTE_NODE, CDATA_SECTION_NODE, ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE and NOTATION_NODE types. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Recommendation | No changes. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Recommendation | No changes. |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition. |
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