HTML DOM Element getElementsByTagName()

Examples

Change the HTML content of the first <li> element in a list:

const list = document.getElementsByTagName("UL")[0];
list.getElementsByTagName("li")[0].innerHTML = "Milk";
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Number of <p> elements in "myDIV":

const element = document.getElementById("myDIV");
const nodes = element.getElementsByTagName("p");
let numb = nodes.length;
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Change the font size of the second <p> element in "myDIV":

const element = document.getElementById("myDIV");
element.getElementsByTagName("p")[1].style.fontSize = "24px";
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More examples below.


Description

The getElementsByTagName() method returns a collection of child elements with a given tag name.

The getElementsByTagName() method returns an HTMLCollection.

Note

The tag name "*" returns all child elements.

See Also:

The getElementsByClassName() Method

The querySelector() Method

The querySelectorAll() Method

NodeList

A NodeList is an array-like collection (list) of nodes.

The nodes in the list can be accessed by index. The index starts at 0.

The length Poperty returns the number of nodes in the list.


Syntax

element.getElementsByTagName(tagname)

Parameters

Parameter Description
tagname Required.
The tagname of the child elements.

Return Value

Type Description
NodeListThe element's child elements with the given tagname.
The elements are sorted as they appear in the source code.


More Examples

Change the background color of all <p> elements inside "myDIV":

const div = document.getElementById("myDIV");
const nodes = x.getElementsByTagName("P");
for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
  nodes[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
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Change the background color of the fourth element (index 3) inside "myDIV":

const div = document.getElementById("myDIV");
div.getElementsByTagName("*")[3].style.backgroundColor = "red";
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Using the "*" parameter.

Change the background color of all elements inside "myDIV":

const div = document.getElementById("myDIV");
const nodes = div.getElementsByTagName("*");
for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
  nodes[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Browser Support

element.getElementsByTagName() is supported in all browsers:

Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera IE
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

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