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/DOM

Document

The Document interface represents any web page loaded in the browser and serves as an entry point into the web page's content, which is the DOM tree. The DOM tree includes elements such as <body> and <table>, among many others. It provides functionality globally to the document, like how to obtain the page's URL and create new elements in the document.

The Document interface describes the common properties and methods for any kind of document. Depending on the document's type (e.g. HTML, XML, SVG, …), a larger API is available: HTML documents, served with the text/html content type, also implement the HTMLDocument interface, whereas XML and SVG documents implement the XMLDocument interface.

Constructor

Document(): Creates a new Document object.

Properties

This interface also inherits from the Node and EventTarget interfaces.

Document.all: Provides access to all elements in the document. This is a legacy, non-standard interface and should not be used.
Document.async: Used with Document.load to indicate an asynchronous request.
Document.characterSet Read only: Returns the character set being used by the document.
Document.charset Read only: Alias of Document.characterSet. Use this property instead.
Document.compatMode Read only: Indicates whether the document is rendered in quirks or strict mode.
Document.contentType Read only: Returns the Content-Type from the MIME Header of the current document.
Document.doctype Read only: Returns the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the current document.
Document.documentElement Read only: Returns the Element that is a direct child of the document. For HTML documents, this is normally the <html> element.
Document.documentURI Read only: Returns the document location as a string.
Document.domConfig: Should return a DOMConfiguration object.
Document.fullscreen: true when the document is in full-screen mode.
Document.hidden Read only: …
Document.implementation Read only: Returns the DOM implementation associated with the current document.
Document.inputEncoding Read only: Alias of Document.characterSet. Use this property instead.
Document.lastStyleSheetSet Read only: Returns the name of the style sheet set that was last enabled. Has the value null until the style sheet is changed by setting the value of selectedStyleSheetSet.
Document.mozSyntheticDocument: Returns a Boolean that is true only if this document is synthetic, such as a standalone image, video, audio file, or the like.
Document.mozFullScreenElement Read only: The element that's currently in full screen mode for this document.
Document.mozFullScreenEnabled Read only: true if calling Element.mozRequestFullscreen() would succeed in the curent document.
Document.pointerLockElement Read only: Returns the element set as the target for mouse events while the pointer is locked. null if lock is pending, pointer is unlocked, or if the target is in another document.
Document.preferredStyleSheetSet Read only: Returns the preferred style sheet set as specified by the page author.
Document.scrollingElement Read only: Returns a reference to the Element that scrolls the document.
Document.selectedStyleSheetSet: Returns which style sheet set is currently in use.
Document.styleSheets Read only: Returns a list of the style sheet objects on the current document.
Document.styleSheetSets Read only: Returns a list of the style sheet sets available on the document.
Document.timeline Read only: …
Document.undoManager Read only: …
Document.visibilityState Read only: Returns a string denoting the visibility state of the document. Possible values are visible, hidden, prerender, and unloaded.
Document.xmlEncoding: Returns the encoding as determined by the XML declaration.
Document.xmlStandalone Obsolete since Gecko 10.0: Returns true if the XML declaration specifies the document to be standalone (e.g., An external part of the DTD affects the document's content), else false.
Document.xmlVersion Obsolete since Gecko 10.0: Returns the version number as specified in the XML declaration or "1.0" if the declaration is absent.

The Document interface is extended with the ParentNode interface:

ParentNode.children Read only: Returns a live HTMLCollection containing all objects of type Element that are children of this ParentNode.
ParentNode.firstElementChild Read only: Returns the Element that is the first child of this ParentNode, or null if there is none.
ParentNode.lastElementChild Read only: Returns the Element that is the last child of this ParentNode, or null if there is none.
ParentNode.childElementCount Read only: Returns an unsigned long giving the amount of children that the object has.

Extension for HTML document

The Document interface for HTML documents inherits from the HTMLDocument interface or, since HTML5, is extended for such documents.

Document.activeElement Read only: Returns the currently focused element.
Document.alinkColor: Returns or sets the color of active links in the document body.
Document.anchors: Returns a list of all of the anchors in the document.
Document.applets: Returns an ordered list of the applets within a document.
Document.bgColor: Gets/sets the background color of the current document.
Document.body: Returns the <body> element of the current document.
Document.cookie: Returns a semicolon-separated list of the cookies for that document or sets a single cookie.
Document.defaultView Read only: Returns a reference to the window object.
Document.designMode: Gets/sets the ability to edit the whole document.
Document.dir Read only: Gets/sets directionality (rtl/ltr) of the document.
Document.domain: Gets/sets the domain of the current document.
Document.embeds Read only: Returns a list of the embedded <embed> elements within the current document.
document.fgColor: Gets/sets the foreground color, or text color, of the current document.
Document.forms Read only: Returns a list of the <form> elements within the current document.
Document.head Read only: Returns the <head> element of the current document.
Document.height: Gets/sets the height of the current document.
Document.images Read only: Returns a list of the images in the current document.
Document.lastModified Read only: Returns the date on which the document was last modified.
Document.linkColor: Gets/sets the color of hyperlinks in the document.
Document.links Read only: Returns a list of all the hyperlinks in the document.
Document.location Read only: Returns the URI of the current document.
Document.plugins Read only: Returns a list of the available plugins.
Document.readyState Read only: Returns loading status of the document.
Document.referrer Read only: Returns the URI of the page that linked to this page.
Document.scripts Read only: Returns all the <script> elements on the document.
Document.title: Sets or gets the title of the current document.
Document.URL Read only: Returns the document location as a string.
Document.vlinkColor: Gets/sets the color of visited hyperlinks.
Document.width: Returns the width of the current document.

Event handlers

Document.onafterscriptexecute: Represents the event handling code for the afterscriptexecute event.
Document.onbeforescriptexecute: Represents the event handling code for the beforescriptexecute event.
Document.oncopy: Represents the event handling code for the copy event.
Document.oncut: Represents the event handling code for the cut event.
Document.onfullscreenchange: Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the fullscreenchange event is raised.
Document.onfullscreenerror: Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the fullscreenerror event is raised.
Document.onpaste: Represents the event handling code for the paste event.
Document.onpointerlockchange: Represents the event handling code for the pointerlockchange event.
Document.onpointerlockerror: Represents the event handling code for the pointerlockerror event.
Document.onreadystatechange: Represents the event handling code for the readystatechange event.
Document.onselectionchange: Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the selectionchange event is raised.
Document.onvisibilitychange: Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the visibilitychange event is raised.
Document.onwheel: Represents the event handling code for the wheel event.

The Document interface is extended with the GlobalEventHandlers interface:

GlobalEventHandlers.onabort

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the abort event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onanimationcancel

An EventHandler called when an animationcancel event is sent, indicating that a running CSS animation has been canceled.

GlobalEventHandlers.onanimationend

An EventHandler called when an animationend event is sent, indicating that a CSS animation has stopped playing.

GlobalEventHandlers.onanimationiteration

An EventHandler called when an animationiteration event has been sent, indicating that a CSS animation has begun playing a new iteration of the animation sequence.

GlobalEventHandlers.onanimationstart

An EventHandler called when an animationstart event is sent, indicating that a CSS animation has started playing.

GlobalEventHandlers.onauxclick

An EventHandler called when an auxclick event is sent, indicating that a non-primary button has been pressed on an input device (e.g. a middle mouse button).

GlobalEventHandlers.onblur

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the blur event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onerror

Is an OnErrorEventHandler representing the code to be called when the error event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onfocus

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the focus event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oncancel

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the cancel event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oncanplay

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the canplay event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oncanplaythrough

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the canplaythrough event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onchange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the change event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onclick

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the click event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onclose

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the close event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oncontextmenu

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the contextmenu event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oncuechange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the cuechange event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondblclick

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dblclick event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondrag

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the drag event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragend

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragend event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragenter

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragenter event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragexit

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragexit event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragleave

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragleave event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragover

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragover event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondragstart

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the dragstart event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondrop

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the drop event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ondurationchange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the durationchange event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onemptied

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the emptied event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onended

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the ended event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ongotpointercapture

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the gotpointercapture event type is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oninput

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the input event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.oninvalid

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the invalid event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onkeydown

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the keydown event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onkeypress

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the keypress event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onkeyup

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the keyup event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onload

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the load event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onloadeddata

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the loadeddata event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onloadedmetadata

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the loadedmetadata event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onloadend

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the loadend event is raised (when progress has stopped on the loading of a resource.)

GlobalEventHandlers.onloadstart

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the loadstart event is raised (when progress has begun on the loading of a resource.)

GlobalEventHandlers.onlostpointercapture

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the lostpointercapture event type is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmousedown

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mousedown event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmouseenter

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mouseenter event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmouseleave

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mouseleave event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmousemove

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mousemove event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmouseout

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mouseout event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmouseover

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mouseover event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmouseup

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mouseup event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onmousewheel

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the mousewheel event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onwheel

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the wheel event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpause

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pause event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onplay

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the play event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onplaying

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the playing event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerdown

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerdown event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointermove

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointermove event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerup

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerup event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointercancel

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointercancel event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerover

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerover event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerout

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerout event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerenter

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerevent event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerleave

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerleave event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerlockchange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerlockchange event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onpointerlockerror

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the pointerlockerror event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onprogress

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the progress event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onratechange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the ratechange event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onreset

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the reset event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onscroll

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the scroll event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onseeked

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the seeked event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onseeking

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the seeking event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onselect

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the select event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onselectstart

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the selectionchange event is raised, i.e. when the user starts to make a new text selection on a web page.

GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the selectionchange event is raised, i.e. when the text selected on a web page changes.

GlobalEventHandlers.onshow

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the show event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onsort

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the sort event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onstalled

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the stalled event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onsubmit

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the submit event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onsuspend

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the suspend event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontimeupdate

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the timeupdate event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.onvolumechange

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the volumechange event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontouchcancel

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the touchcancel event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontouchend

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the touchend event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontouchmove

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the touchmove event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontouchstart

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the touchstart event is raised.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontransitioncancel

An EventHandler called when a transitioncancel event is sent, indicating that a CSS transition has been cancelled.

GlobalEventHandlers.ontransitionend

An EventHandler called when a transitionend event is sent, indicating that a CSS transition has finished playing.

GlobalEventHandlers.onwaiting

Is an EventHandler representing the code to be called when the waiting event is raised.

Methods

This interface also inherits from the Node and EventTarget interfaces.

Document.adoptNode(): Adopt node from an external document.
Document.captureEvents(): See Window.captureEvents.
Document.caretPositionFromPoint(): Gets the CaretPosition at or near the specified coordinates.
Document.caretRangeFromPoint(): Gets a Range object for the document fragment under the specified coordinates.
Document.createAttribute(): Creates a new Attr object and returns it.
Document.createAttributeNS(): Creates a new attribute node in a given namespace and returns it.
Document.createCDATASection(): Creates a new CDATA node and returns it.
Document.createComment(): Creates a new comment node and returns it.
Document.createDocumentFragment(): Creates a new document fragment.
Document.createElement(): Creates a new element with the given tag name.
Document.createElementNS(): Creates a new element with the given tag name and namespace URI.
Document.createEntityReference(): Creates a new entity reference object and returns it.
Document.createEvent(): Creates an event object.
Document.createNodeIterator(): Creates a NodeIterator object.
Document.createProcessingInstruction(): Creates a new ProcessingInstruction object.
Document.createRange(): Creates a Range object.
Document.createTextNode(): Creates a text node.
Document.createTouch(): Creates a Touch object.
Document.createTouchList(): Creates a TouchList object.
Document.createTreeWalker(): Creates a TreeWalker object.
Document.elementFromPoint(): Returns the topmost element at the specified coordinates.
Document.elementsFromPoint(): Returns an array of all elements at the specified coordinates.
Document.enableStyleSheetsForSet(): Enables the style sheets for the specified style sheet set.
Document.exitPointerLock(): Release the pointer lock.
Document.getAnimations(): Returns an array of all Animation objects currently in effect, whose target elements are descendants of the document.
Document.getElementsByClassName(): Returns a list of elements with the given class name.
Document.getElementsByTagName(): Returns a list of elements with the given tag name.
Document.getElementsByTagNameNS(): Returns a list of elements with the given tag name and namespace.
Document.importNode(): Returns a clone of a node from an external document.
Document.normalizeDocument(): Replaces entities, normalizes text nodes, etc.
Document.registerElement(): Registers a web component.
Document.releaseCapture(): Releases the current mouse capture if it's on an element in this document.
Document.releaseEvents(): See Window.releaseEvents().
Document.routeEvent() Obsolete since Gecko 24: See Window.routeEvent().
Document.mozSetImageElement(): Allows you to change the element being used as the background image for a specified element ID.

The Document interface is extended with the ParentNode interface:

document.getElementById(String id): Returns an object reference to the identified element.
document.querySelector(String selector): Returns the first Element node within the document, in document order, that matches the specified selectors.
document.querySelectorAll(String selector): Returns a list of all the Element nodes within the document that match the specified selectors.

The Document interface is extended with the XPathEvaluator interface:

document.createExpression(String expression, XPathNSResolver resolver): Compiles an XPathExpression which can then be used for (repeated) evaluations.
document.createNSResolver(Node resolver): Creates an XPathNSResolver object.
document.evaluate(String expression, Node contextNode, XPathNSResolver resolver, Number type, Object result): Evaluates an XPath expression.

Extension for HTML documents

The Document interface for HTML documents inherit from the HTMLDocument interface or, since HTML5, is extended for such documents:

document.clear(): In majority of modern browsers, including recent versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer, this method does nothing.
document.close(): Closes a document stream for writing.
document.execCommand(String command[, Boolean showUI[, String value]]): On an editable document, executes a formating command.
document.getElementsByName(String name): Returns a list of elements with the given name.
document.getSelection(): Returns a Selection object related to text selected in the document.
document.hasFocus(): Returns true if the focus is currently located anywhere inside the specified document.
document.open(): Opens a document stream for writing.
document.queryCommandEnabled(String command): Returns true if the formating command can be executed on the current range.
document.queryCommandIndeterm(String command): Returns true if the formating command is in an indeterminate state on the current range.
document.queryCommandState(String command): Returns true if the formating command has been executed on the current range.
document.queryCommandSupported(String command): Returns true if the formating command is supported on the current range.
document.queryCommandValue(String command): Returns the current value of the current range for a formating command.
document.write(String text): Writes text in a document.
document.writeln(String text): Writes a line of text in a document.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Page Visibility (Second Edition) The definition of 'onvisibilitychange' in that specification.	Recommendation	Adds `onvisibilitychange`.
Selection API The definition of 'Extend Document and GlobalEventHandlers' in that specification.	Working Draft	Adds `onselectstart` and `onselectionchange`.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Obsolete	Initial definition for the interface
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Obsolete	Supersede DOM 1
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Obsolete	Supersede DOM 2
DOM The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Living Standard	Intend to supersede DOM 3
HTML Living Standard The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Living Standard	Turn the `HTMLDocument` interface into a `Document` extension.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 XPath Specification The definition of 'XPathEvaluator' in that specification.	Recommendation	Define the `XPathEvaluator` interface which extend document.
Page Visibility (Second Edition) The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Recommendation	Extend the `Document` interface with the `visibilityState` and `hidden` attributes
HTML Editing APIs The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Extend the `Document` interface
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View Module The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Working Draft	Extend the `Document` interface
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Working Draft	Extend the `Document` interface
Pointer Lock The definition of 'Document' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Extend the `Document` interface

Browser compatibility notes

Firefox notes

Mozilla defines a set of non-standard properties made only for XUL content:

document.currentScript: Returns the <script> element that is currently executing.
document.documentURIObject: (Mozilla add-ons only!) Returns the nsIURI object representing the URI of the document. This property only has special meaning in privileged JavaScript code (with UniversalXPConnect privileges).
document.popupNode: Returns the node upon which a popup was invoked.
document.tooltipNode: Returns the node which is the target of the current tooltip.

Mozilla also define some non-standard methods:

document.execCommandShowHelp Obsolete since Gecko 14.0: This method never did anything and always threw an exception, so it was removed in Gecko 14.0 (Firefox 14.0 / Thunderbird 14.0 / SeaMonkey 2.11).
document.getBoxObjectFor: Use the Element.getBoundingClientRect() method instead.
document.loadOverlay: Loads a XUL overlay dynamically. This only works in XUL documents.
document.queryCommandText Obsolete since Gecko 14.0: This method never did anything but throw an exception, and was removed in Gecko 14.0 (Firefox 14.0 / Thunderbird 14.0 / SeaMonkey 2.11).

Internet Explorer notes

Microsoft defines some non-standard properties:

document.fileSize*: Returns size in bytes of the document. Starting with Internet Explorer 11, that property is no longer supported. See MSDN.
Internet Explorer does not support all methods from the Node interface in the Document interface:

document.contains: As a work-around, document.body.contains() can be used.

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document