How to get element by class name? [duplicate]

by

The name of the DOM function is actually getElementsByClassName, not getElementByClassName, simply because more than one element on the page can have the same class, hence: Elements.

The return value of this will be a NodeList instance, or a superset of the NodeList (FF, for instance returns an instance of HTMLCollection). At any rate: the return value is an array-like object:

var y = document.getElementsByClassName('foo');
var aNode = y[0];

If, for some reason you need the return object as an array, you can do that easily, because of its magic length property:

var arrFromList = Array.prototype.slice.call(y);
//or as per AntonB's comment:
var arrFromList = [].slice.call(y);

As yckart suggested querySelector('.foo') and querySelectorAll('.foo') would be preferable, though, as they are, indeed, better supported (93.99% vs 87.24%), according to caniuse.com:

More Related Contents:

  1. Remove element by id
  2. Check if an image is loaded (no errors) with jQuery
  3. How can I be notified when an element is added to the page?
  4. Get next / previous element using JavaScript?
  5. How to retrieve the display property of a DOM element?
  6. Get selected option text with JavaScript
  7. How do I toggle an element’s class in pure JavaScript?
  8. Invariant Violation: _registerComponent(…): Target container is not a DOM element
  9. In Javascript, can you extend the DOM?
  10. How to copy a DOM node with event listeners?
  11. AngularJS: How to run additional code after AngularJS has rendered a template?
  12. Setting focus to iframe contents
  13. Get DocType of an HTML as string with Javascript
  14. Is innerHTML asynchronous?
  15. Does the onchange event propagate?
  16. Is there any “on DOM change” event? [duplicate]
  17. Can I apply CSS to the elements within an iframe?
  18. Changing the order of elements
  19. createElement vs. createElementNS
  20. DOM / pure JavaScript solution to jQuery.closest() implementation?
  21. Finding child element of parent with JavaScript
  22. getElementsByClassName() with two classes
  23. What is the difference between `firstChild` and `firstElementChild`?
  24. Javascript DOM: Setting custom DOM element properties
  25. How can I remove wrapper (parent element) without removing the child?
  26. Can I add arbitrary properties to DOM objects?
  27. Is there any way to find an element in a documentFragment?
  28. In JavaScript, how can I replace text in an HTML page without affecting the tags?
  29. How do I manipulate the SVG DOM and create elements?
  30. Removing element with jQuery?

Leave a Comment