HTML DOM Element childElementCount
Examples
Number of child elements of a <div> element:
let numb = document.getElementById("myDIV").childElementCount;
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childElementCount returns the same as children.length:
let numb = document.getElementById("myDIV").children.length;
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Description
The childElementCount property returns the number of child elements of an element.
The childElementCount property returns the same as children.length.
The childElementCount is read only.
Note
The returned value is the number of child elements, not the number of child nodes (like text and comment nodes).
See Also:
The firstElementChild property
The nextElementSibling Property
HTML Nodes vs Elements
In the HTML DOM (Document Object Model), an HTML document is a collection of nodes with (or without) child nodes.
Nodes are element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes.
Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.
Elements are only element nodes.
childNodes vs children
childNodes returns child nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).
children returns child elements (not text and comment nodes).
Siblings vs Element Siblings
Siblings are "brothers" and "sisters".
Siblings are nodes with the same parent (in the same childNodes list).
Element Siblings are elements with the same parent (in the same children list).
Syntax
element.childElementCount
Return Value
| Type | Description |
| Number | The number of child elements of the element |
Browser Support
element.childElementCount is a DOM Level 3 (2004) feature.
It is fully supported in all modern browsers:
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Safari | Opera | IE |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |