Element: setAttributeNode() method

{{ APIRef("DOM") }} 

The setAttributeNode() method of the {{domxref("Element")}}  interface adds a new {{domxref("Attr")}}  node to the specified element.

If you don’t need to work with the attribute node (such as cloning from another element) before adding it, you can use the {{domxref("Element.setAttribute()", "setAttribute()")}}  method instead.

Syntax

setAttributeNode(attribute)

Parameters

• attribute
  • : The {{domxref("Attr")}}  node to add to the element.

Return value

The replaced attribute node, if any, returned by this function.

Examples

This example copies the lang attribute from one element to another.

HTML

<div id="one" lang="en-US">one</div>
<div id="two">two</div>

JavaScript

const d1 = document.getElementById("one");
const d2 = document.getElementById("two");
const a = d1.getAttributeNode("lang");

d2.setAttributeNode(a.cloneNode(true));

// Returns: 'en-US'
console.log(d2.attributes[1].value);

Notes

If the attribute named already exists on the element, that attribute is replaced with the new one and the replaced one is returned.

Specifications

{{Specifications}} 

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}} 

See also

• {{domxref("Document.createAttribute()")}} 
• {{domxref("Element.getAttributeNode()")}} 
• {{domxref("Element.removeAttributeNode()")}}