ChildNode.replaceWith

The ChildNode.replaceWith() method replaces this ChildNode in the children list of its parent with a set of Node or DOMString objects. DOMString objects are inserted as equivalent Text nodes.

Syntax

[Throws, Unscopable] 
void ChildNode.replaceWith((Node or DOMString)... nodes);

Parameters

nodes

A set of Node or DOMString objects to replace.

Exceptions

• HierarchyRequestError: Node cannot be inserted at the specified point in the hierarchy.

Examples

Using replaceWith()

var parent = document.createElement("div");
var child = document.createElement("p");
parent.appendChild(child);
var span = document.createElement("span");

child.replaceWith(span);

console.log(parent.outerHTML);
// "<div><span></span></div>"

ChildNode.replaceWith() is unscopable

The replaceWith() method is not scoped into the with statement. See Symbol.unscopables for more information.

with(node) { 
  replaceWith("foo");
}
// ReferenceError: replaceWith is not defined 

Polyfill

You can polyfill the replaceWith() method in Internet Explorer 6 and higher with the following code:

function ReplaceWith(Ele) {
  'use-strict'; // For safari, and IE > 10
  var parent = this.parentNode,
      i = arguments.length,
      firstIsNode = +(parent && typeof Ele === 'object');
  if (!parent) return;
  
  while (i-- > firstIsNode){
    if (parent && typeof arguments[i] !== 'object'){
      arguments[i] = document.createTextNode(arguments[i]);
    } if (!parent && arguments[i].parentNode){
      arguments[i].parentNode.removeChild(arguments[i]);
      continue;
    }
    parent.insertBefore(this.previousSibling, arguments[i]);
  }
  if (firstIsNode) parent.replaceChild(Ele, this);
}
if (!Element.prototype.replaceWith)
    Element.prototype.replaceWith = ReplaceWith;
if (!CharacterData.prototype.replaceWith)
    CharacterData.prototype.replaceWith = ReplaceWith;
if (!DocumentType.prototype.replaceWith) 
    DocumentType.prototype.replaceWith = ReplaceWith;

Specification

Browser compatibility

[1] Internet Explorer supports the non-standard HTMLElement.replaceNode method; see MSDN: replaceNode

See also

• ChildNode and ParentNode
• Node.replaceChild()
• NodeList