CSSPseudoElement: element property

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The element read-only property of the CSSPseudoElement interface returns a reference to the originating element of the pseudo-element, in other words its parent element.

Value

An Element representing the pseudo-element's originating element.

Examples

The example below demonstrates the relationship between CSSPseudoElement.element and Element.pseudo():

js
const myElement = document.querySelector("q");
const cssPseudoElement = myElement.pseudo("::after");
const originatingElement = cssPseudoElement.element;

console.log(myElement === originatingElement); // Outputs true
console.log(myElement.parentElement === originatingElement); // Outputs false
console.log(myElement.lastElementChild === cssPseudoElement); // Outputs false
console.log(myElement.lastChild === cssPseudoElement); // Outputs false
console.log(myElement.nextElementSibling === cssPseudoElement); // Outputs false
console.log(myElement.nextSibling === cssPseudoElement); // Outputs false

Specifications

Specification
CSS Pseudo-Elements Module Level 4
# dom-csspseudoelement-element

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also