HTML DOM Element previousSibling
Example
Return the HTML content of the previous sibling of a list item:
document.getElementById("item2").previousSibling.innerHTML;
Try it Yourself »
Description
The previousSibling property returns the previous node on the same tree level.
The previousSibling property returns a node object.
The previousSibling property is read-only.
Important!
previousSibling returns the previous sibling node:
An element node, a text node, or a comment node.
Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.
Alternative:
The previousElementSibling Property
previousElementSibling returns the previous sibling element (ignores text and comments).
See Also:
Nodes vs Elements
In the HTML DOM terminology:
Nodes are all nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).
Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.
Elements are only element 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).
childNodes vs children
childNodes returns child nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).
children returns child elements (not text and comment nodes).
nextSibling vs nextElementSibling
nextSibling returns the next node (an element node, a text node or a comment node). Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.
nextElementSibling returns the next element (not text and comment nodes).
previousSibling vs previousElementSibling
previousSibling returns the previous node (an element node, a text node or a comment node). Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.
previousElementSibling returns the previous element (not text and comment nodes).
Syntax
element.previousSibling
or
node.previousSibling
Return Value
| Type | Description |
| Node | The previous sibling of the node.null if no previous sibling exists. |
Browser Support
element.previousSibling is a DOM Level 1 (1998) feature.
It is fully supported in all browsers:
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Safari | Opera | IE |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9-11 |