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Node.nodeType

The read-only Node.nodeType property that represents the type of the node.

Description

The nodeType property can be used to distinguish different kind of nodes, such that elements, text and comments, from each other.

Syntax

var type = node.nodeType;

Returns an integer value which specifies the type of the node; possible values are listed in Node type constants.

Constants

Node type constants

Constant	Value	Description
`Node.ELEMENT_NODE`	`1`	An `Element` node such as `<p>` or `<div>.`
`Node.TEXT_NODE`	`3`	The actual `Text` of `Element` or `Attr`.
`Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE`	`7`	A `ProcessingInstruction` of an XML document such as `<?xml-stylesheet ... ?>` declaration.
`Node.COMMENT_NODE`	`8`	A `Comment` node.
`Node.DOCUMENT_NODE`	`9`	A `Document` node.
`Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE`	`10`	A `DocumentType` node e.g. `<!DOCTYPE html>` for HTML5 documents.
`Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE`	`11`	A `DocumentFragment` node.

Deprecated node type constants

The following constants have been deprecated and should not be used anymore.

Constant	Value	Description
`Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE`	2	An `Attribute` of an `Element`. The element attributes are no longer implementing the `Node` interface in DOM4 specification.
`Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE`	`4`	A `CDATASection`. Removed in DOM4 specification.
`Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE`	5	An XML Entity Reference node. Removed in DOM4 specification.
`Node.ENTITY_NODE`	6	An XML `<!ENTITY ...>` node. Removed in DOM4 specification.
`Node.NOTATION_NODE`	12	An XML `<!NOTATION ...>` node. Removed in DOM4 specification.

Examples

Different types of nodes

document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE; // true
document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE; // true

var fragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
fragment.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE; // true

var p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time...";

p.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE; // true
p.firstChild.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE; // true

Comments

This example checks if the first node inside the document element is a comment node, and if it is not, displays a message.

var node = document.documentElement.firstChild;
if (node.nodeType != Node.COMMENT_NODE)
  console.log("You should comment your code well!");

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
DOM The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification.	Living Standard	Deprecated `ATTRIBUTE_NODE, CDATA_SECTION_NODE, ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE and NOTATION_NODE` types.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification.	Recommendation	No changes.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification.	Recommendation	No changes.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'Node.nodeType' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

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