Web/API/Element/getElementsByTagName

The Element.getElementsByTagName() method returns a live HTMLCollection of elements with the given tag name. All descendants of the specified element are searched, but not the element itself. The returned list is live, which means it updates itself with the DOM tree automatically. Therefore, there is no need to call Element.getElementsByTagName() with the same element and arguments repeatedly if the DOM changes in between calls.

When called on an HTML element in an HTML document, getElementsByTagName lower-cases the argument before searching for it. This is undesirable when trying to match camel-cased SVG elements (such as <linearGradient>) in an HTML document. Instead, use Element.getElementsByTagNameNS(), which preserves the capitalization of the tag name.

Element.getElementsByTagName is similar to Document.getElementsByTagName(), except that it only searches for elements that are descendants of the specified element.

Syntax

elements = element.getElementsByTagName(tagName)

elements is a live HTMLCollection of elements with a matching tag name, in the order they appear. If no elements are found, the HTMLCollection is empty.
element is the element from where the search starts. Only the element's descendants are included, not the element itself.
tagName is the qualified name to look for. The special string "*" represents all elements. For compatibility with XHTML, lower-case should be used.

Example

// Check the status of each data cell in a table
const table = document.getElementById('forecast-table'); 
const cells = table.getElementsByTagName('td');

for (let cell of cells) {
  let status = cell.getAttribute('data-status');
  if (status === 'open') {
    // Grab the data 
  }
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
DOMThe definition of 'Element.getElementsByTagName()' in that specification.	Living Standard	Changed the return value from `NodeList` to `HTMLCollection`
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Element.getElementsByTagName()' in that specification.	Obsolete	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Element.getElementsByTagName()' in that specification.	Obsolete	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 SpecificationThe definition of 'Element.getElementsByTagName()' in that specification.	Obsolete	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`getElementsByTagName`	Chrome Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Prior to Firefox 19, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the change in the spec.	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 8 Notes' Full support 8 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	Safari Full support 6 Notes' Full support 6 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	WebView Android Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	Chrome Android Full support 18 Notes' Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' Prior to Firefox 19, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the change in the spec.	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 6 Notes' Full support 6 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 Notes' Full support 1.0 Notes' Notes' Initially, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the spec change.
getElementsByTagName(*)	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 6	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' Prior to Firefox 19, this method was returning a `NodeList`; it was then changed to reflect the change in the spec.	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.

Element.getElementsByTagName() by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.