Document
The Document
interface represents any web page loaded in the browser and serves as an entry point into the web page's content, which is the DOM tree.
The DOM tree includes elements such as <body>
and <table>
, among many others. It provides functionality globally to the document, like how to obtain the page's URL and create new elements in the document.
The Document
interface describes the common properties and methods for any kind of document. Depending on the document's type (e.g. HTML, XML, SVG, …), a larger API is available: HTML documents, served with the "text/html"
content type, also implement the HTMLDocument
interface, whereas XML and SVG documents implement the XMLDocument
interface.
Constructor
Document()
-
Creates a new
Document
object.
Instance properties
This interface also inherits from the Node
and EventTarget
interfaces.
Document.activeElement
Read only-
Returns the
Element
that currently has focus. Document.adoptedStyleSheets
-
Add an array of constructed stylesheets to be used by the document. These stylesheets may also be shared with shadow DOM subtrees of the same document.
Document.body
-
Returns the
<body>
or<frameset>
node of the current document. Document.characterSet
Read only-
Returns the character set being used by the document.
Document.childElementCount
Read only-
Returns the number of child elements of the current document.
Document.children
Read only-
Returns the child elements of the current document.
Document.compatMode
Read only-
Indicates whether the document is rendered in quirks or strict mode.
Document.contentType
Read only-
Returns the Content-Type from the MIME Header of the current document.
Document.currentScript
Read only-
Returns the
<script>
element whose script is currently being processed and isn't a JavaScript module. Document.doctype
Read only-
Returns the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the current document.
Document.documentElement
Read only-
Returns the
Element
that is a direct child of the document. For HTML documents, this is normally theHTMLHtmlElement
object representing the document's<html>
element. Document.documentURI
Read only-
Returns the document location as a string.
Document.embeds
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the embedded<embed>
elements in the document. Document.featurePolicy
Experimental Read only-
Returns the
FeaturePolicy
interface with the feature policies applied to the document. Document.firstElementChild
Read only-
Returns the first child element of the current document.
Document.fonts
-
Returns the
FontFaceSet
interface of the current document. Document.forms
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the<form>
elements in the document. Document.fragmentDirective
Read only-
Returns the
FragmentDirective
for the current document. Document.fullscreenElement
Read only-
The element that's currently in full screen mode for this document.
Document.head
Read only-
Returns the
<head>
element of the current document. -
Returns a Boolean value indicating if the page is considered hidden or not.
Document.images
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the images in the document. Document.implementation
Read only-
Returns the DOM implementation associated with the current document.
Document.lastElementChild
Read only-
Returns the last child element of the current document.
Document.links
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the hyperlinks in the document. Document.pictureInPictureElement
Read only-
Returns the
Element
currently being presented in picture-in-picture mode in this document. Document.pictureInPictureEnabled
Read only-
Returns true if the picture-in-picture feature is enabled.
Document.plugins
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the available plugins. Document.pointerLockElement
Read only-
Returns the element set as the target for mouse events while the pointer is locked.
null
if lock is pending, pointer is unlocked, or if the target is in another document. Document.prerendering
Read only Experimental-
Returns a boolean that indicates whether the document is currently in the process of prerendering, as initiated via the Speculation Rules API.
Document.scripts
Read only-
Returns an
HTMLCollection
of the<script>
elements in the document. Document.scrollingElement
Read only-
Returns a reference to the
Element
that scrolls the document. Document.styleSheets
Read only-
Returns a
StyleSheetList
ofCSSStyleSheet
objects for stylesheets explicitly linked into, or embedded in a document. Document.timeline
Read only-
Returns timeline as a special instance of
DocumentTimeline
that is automatically created on page load. Document.visibilityState
Read only-
Returns a
string
denoting the visibility state of the document. Possible values arevisible
,hidden
,prerender
, andunloaded
.
Extensions for HTMLDocument
The Document
interface for HTML documents inherits from the HTMLDocument
interface or is extended for such documents.
-
Returns a semicolon-separated list of the cookies for that document or sets a single cookie.
Document.defaultView
Read only-
Returns a reference to the window object.
Document.designMode
-
Gets/sets the ability to edit the whole document.
Document.dir
-
Gets/sets directionality (rtl/ltr) of the document.
Document.fullscreenEnabled
Read only-
Indicates whether fullscreen mode is available.
Document.lastModified
Read only-
Returns the date on which the document was last modified.
Document.location
Read only-
Returns the URI of the current document.
Document.readyState
Read only-
Returns loading status of the document.
Document.referrer
Read only-
Returns the URI of the page that linked to this page.
Document.title
-
Sets or gets the title of the current document.
Document.URL
Read only-
Returns the document location as a string.
Deprecated properties
Document.alinkColor
Deprecated-
Returns or sets the color of active links in the document body.
Document.all
Deprecated-
Provides access to all elements in the document — it returns an
HTMLAllCollection
rooted at the document node. This is a legacy, non-standard property and should not be used. Document.anchors
Deprecated Read only-
Returns a list of all of the anchors in the document.
Document.applets
Deprecated Read only-
Returns an empty
HTMLCollection
. Legacy property that used to return the list of applets within a document. Document.bgColor
Deprecated-
Gets/sets the background color of the current document.
Document.charset
Deprecated Read only-
Alias of
Document.characterSet
. Use this property instead. Document.domain
Deprecated-
Gets/sets the domain of the current document.
Document.fgColor
Deprecated-
Gets/sets the foreground color, or text color, of the current document.
Document.fullscreen
Deprecated-
Returns
true
when the document is in fullscreen mode. Document.inputEncoding
Deprecated Read only-
Alias of
Document.characterSet
. Use this property instead. Document.lastStyleSheetSet
Deprecated Read only Non-standard-
Returns the name of the style sheet set that was last enabled. Has the value
null
until the style sheet is changed by setting the value ofselectedStyleSheetSet
. Document.linkColor
Deprecated-
Gets/sets the color of hyperlinks in the document.
Document.preferredStyleSheetSet
Deprecated Read only Non-standard-
Returns the preferred style sheet set as specified by the page author.
Document.rootElement
Deprecated-
Like
Document.documentElement
, but only for<svg>
root elements. Use this property instead. Document.selectedStyleSheetSet
Deprecated Non-standard-
Returns which style sheet set is currently in use.
Document.styleSheetSets
Deprecated Read only Non-standard-
Returns a list of the style sheet sets available on the document.
Document.vlinkColor
Deprecated-
Gets/sets the color of visited hyperlinks.
Document.xmlEncoding
Deprecated-
Returns the encoding as determined by the XML declaration.
Document.xmlStandalone
Deprecated-
Returns
true
if the XML declaration specifies the document to be standalone (e.g., An external part of the DTD affects the document's content), elsefalse
. Document.xmlVersion
Deprecated-
Returns the version number as specified in the XML declaration or
"1.0"
if the declaration is absent.
Instance methods
This interface also inherits from the Node
and EventTarget
interfaces.
Document.adoptNode()
-
Adopt node from an external document.
Document.append()
-
Inserts a set of
Node
objects or strings after the last child of the document. Document.browsingTopics()
Experimental Non-standard-
Returns a promise that fulfills with an array of objects representing the top topics for the user, one from each of the last three epochs. By default, the method also causes the browser to record the current page visit as observed by the caller, so the page's hostname can later be used in topics calculation. See the Topics API for more details.
Document.captureEvents()
Deprecated-
See
Window.captureEvents
. Document.caretPositionFromPoint()
-
Returns a
CaretPosition
object containing the DOM node containing the caret, and caret's character offset within that node. Document.caretRangeFromPoint()
Non-standard-
Gets a
Range
object for the document fragment under the specified coordinates. Document.createAttribute()
-
Creates a new
Attr
object and returns it. Document.createAttributeNS()
-
Creates a new attribute node in a given namespace and returns it.
Document.createCDATASection()
-
Creates a new CDATA node and returns it.
Document.createComment()
-
Creates a new comment node and returns it.
Document.createDocumentFragment()
-
Creates a new document fragment.
Document.createElement()
-
Creates a new element with the given tag name.
Document.createElementNS()
-
Creates a new element with the given tag name and namespace URI.
Document.createEvent()
-
Creates an event object.
Document.createNodeIterator()
-
Creates a
NodeIterator
object. Document.createProcessingInstruction()
-
Creates a new
ProcessingInstruction
object. Document.createRange()
-
Creates a
Range
object. Document.createTextNode()
-
Creates a text node.
Document.createTouch()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Creates a
Touch
object. Document.createTouchList()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Creates a
TouchList
object. Document.createTreeWalker()
-
Creates a
TreeWalker
object. Document.elementFromPoint()
-
Returns the topmost element at the specified coordinates.
Document.elementsFromPoint()
-
Returns an array of all elements at the specified coordinates.
Document.enableStyleSheetsForSet()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Enables the style sheets for the specified style sheet set.
Document.exitFullscreen()
-
Stops document's fullscreen element from being displayed fullscreen.
Document.exitPictureInPicture()
-
Remove the video from the floating picture-in-picture window back to its original container.
Document.exitPointerLock()
-
Release the pointer lock.
Document.getAnimations()
-
Returns an array of all
Animation
objects currently in effect, whose target elements are descendants of thedocument
. Document.getBoxQuads()
Experimental-
Returns a list of
DOMQuad
objects representing the CSS fragments of the node. Document.getElementById()
-
Returns an object reference to the identified element.
Document.getElementsByClassName()
-
Returns a list of elements with the given class name.
Document.getElementsByTagName()
-
Returns a list of elements with the given tag name.
Document.getElementsByTagNameNS()
-
Returns a list of elements with the given tag name and namespace.
Document.getSelection()
-
Returns a
Selection
object representing the range of text selected by the user, or the current position of the caret. Document.hasStorageAccess()
-
Returns a
Promise
that resolves with a boolean value indicating whether the document has access to unpartitioned cookies. -
New name for
Document.hasStorageAccess()
. Document.importNode()
-
Returns a clone of a node from an external document.
Document.mozSetImageElement()
Non-standard-
Allows you to change the element being used as the background image for a specified element ID.
Document.prepend()
-
Inserts a set of
Node
objects or strings before the first child of the document. Document.querySelector()
-
Returns the first Element node within the document, in document order, that matches the specified selectors.
Document.querySelectorAll()
-
Returns a list of all the Element nodes within the document that match the specified selectors.
Document.releaseCapture()
Non-standard-
Releases the current mouse capture if it's on an element in this document.
Document.releaseEvents()
DeprecatedDocument.replaceChildren()
-
Replaces the existing children of a document with a specified new set of children.
Document.requestStorageAccess()
-
Allows a document loaded in a third-party context (i.e. embedded in an
<iframe>
) to request access to unpartitioned cookies, in cases where user agents by default block access to unpartitioned cookies by sites loaded in a third-party context to improve privacy. Document.requestStorageAccessFor()
Experimental-
Allows top-level sites to request third-party cookie access on behalf of embedded content originating from another site in the same related website set.
Document.startViewTransition()
-
Starts a new view transition and returns a
ViewTransition
object to represent it.
The Document
interface is extended with the XPathEvaluator
interface:
Document.createExpression()
-
Compiles an
XPathExpression
which can then be used for (repeated) evaluations. Document.createNSResolver()
Deprecated-
Returns the input node as-is.
Document.evaluate()
-
Evaluates an XPath expression.
Extension for HTML documents
The Document
interface for HTML documents inherit from the HTMLDocument
interface or is extended for such documents:
Document.clear()
Deprecated-
This method does nothing.
Document.close()
-
Closes a document stream for writing.
Document.execCommand()
Deprecated-
On an editable document, executes a formatting command.
Document.getElementsByName()
-
Returns a list of elements with the given name.
Document.hasFocus()
-
Returns
true
if the focus is currently located anywhere inside the specified document. Document.open()
-
Opens a document stream for writing.
Document.queryCommandEnabled()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Returns true if the formatting command can be executed on the current range.
Document.queryCommandIndeterm()
Deprecated-
Returns true if the formatting command is in an indeterminate state on the current range.
Document.queryCommandState()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Returns true if the formatting command has been executed on the current range.
Document.queryCommandSupported()
Deprecated Non-standard-
Returns true if the formatting command is supported on the current range.
Document.queryCommandValue()
Deprecated-
Returns the current value of the current range for a formatting command.
Document.write()
-
Writes text in a document.
Document.writeln()
-
Writes a line of text in a document.
Static methods
This interface also inherits from the Node
and EventTarget
interfaces.
Document.parseHTMLUnsafe()
-
Creates a new
Document
object from a string of HTML without performing sanitization. The string may contain declarative shadow roots.
Events
Listen to these events using addEventListener()
or by assigning an event listener to the oneventname
property of this interface. In addition to the events listed below, many events can bubble from nodes contained in the document tree.
afterscriptexecute
Non-standard-
Fired when a static
<script>
element finishes executing its script beforescriptexecute
Non-standard-
Fired when a static
<script>
is about to start executing. prerenderingchange
Experimental-
Fired on a prerendered document when it is activated (i.e. the user views the page).
securitypolicyviolation
-
Fired when a content security policy is violated.
visibilitychange
-
Fired when the content of a tab has become visible or has been hidden.
Clipboard events
Fullscreen events
fullscreenchange
-
Fired when the
Document
transitions into or out of fullscreen mode. fullscreenerror
-
Fired if an error occurs while attempting to switch into or out of fullscreen mode.
Load & unload events
DOMContentLoaded
-
Fired when the document has been completely loaded and parsed, without waiting for stylesheets, images, and subframes to finish loading.
readystatechange
-
Fired when the
readyState
attribute of a document has changed.
Pointer lock events
pointerlockchange
-
Fired when the pointer is locked/unlocked.
pointerlockerror
-
Fired when locking the pointer failed.
Scroll events
Selection events
selectionchange
-
Fired when the current text selection on a document is changed.
Specifications
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser