Element: before() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The Element.before() method inserts a set of Node objects or strings in the children list of this Element's parent, just before this Element. Strings are inserted as equivalent Text nodes.

Syntax

js
before(param1)
before(param1, param2)
before(param1, param2, /* …, */ paramN)

Parameters

param1, …, paramN

A set of Node objects or strings to insert.

Return value

None (undefined).

Exceptions

HierarchyRequestError DOMException

Thrown when the node cannot be inserted at the specified point in the hierarchy.

Examples

Inserting an element

js
let container = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
container.appendChild(p);
let span = document.createElement("span");

p.before(span);

console.log(container.outerHTML);
// "<div><span></span><p></p></div>"

Inserting text

js
let container = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
container.appendChild(p);

p.before("Text");

console.log(container.outerHTML);
// "<div>Text<p></p></div>"

Inserting an element and text

js
let container = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
container.appendChild(p);
let span = document.createElement("span");

p.before(span, "Text");

console.log(container.outerHTML);
// "<div><span></span>Text<p></p></div>"

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard
# ref-for-dom-childnode-before①

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also