Node: nodeType property
{{APIRef("DOM")}}
The read-only nodeType property of a {{domxref("Node")}} interface is an integer
that identifies what the node is. It distinguishes different kind of nodes from each other,
such as {{domxref("Element", "elements")}} , {{domxref("Text", "text")}} and {{domxref("Comment", "comments")}} .
Value
An integer which specifies the type of the node. Possible values are:
Node.ELEMENT_NODE(1)- : An
{{domxref("Element")}}node like{{HTMLElement("p")}}or{{HTMLElement("div")}}.
- : An
Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE(2)- : An
{{domxref("Attr", "Attribute")}}of an{{domxref("Element")}}.
- : An
Node.TEXT_NODE(3)- : The actual
{{domxref("Text")}}inside an{{domxref("Element")}}or{{domxref("Attr")}}.
- : The actual
Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE(4)- : A
{{domxref("CDATASection")}}, such as<!CDATA[[ … ]]>
- : A
Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE(7)- : A
{{domxref("ProcessingInstruction")}}of an XML document, such as<?xml-stylesheet … ?>.
- : A
Node.COMMENT_NODE(8)- : A
{{domxref("Comment")}}node, such as<!-- … -->.
- : A
Node.DOCUMENT_NODE(9)- : A
{{domxref("Document")}}node.
- : A
Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE(10)- : A
{{domxref("DocumentType")}}node, such as<!doctype html>.
- : A
Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE(11)- : A
{{domxref("DocumentFragment")}}node.
- : A
The following constants have been deprecated and are not in use anymore: Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE (5),
Node.ENTITY_NODE (6), and Node.NOTATION_NODE (12).
Examples
Different types of nodes
document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE; // true
document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE; // true
document.createDocumentFragment().nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE; // true
const 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, and displays a message if not.
const node = document.documentElement.firstChild;
if (node.nodeType !== Node.COMMENT_NODE) {
console.warn("You should comment your code!");
}
Specifications
{{Specifications}}
Browser compatibility
{{Compat}}