Web/API/Element/insertAdjacentElement

The insertAdjacentElement() method of the Element interface inserts a given element node at a given position relative to the element it is invoked upon.

Syntax

targetElement.insertAdjacentElement(position, element);

Parameters

position: A DOMString representing the position relative to the targetElement; must match (case-insensitively) one of the following strings:

'beforebegin'

Before the targetElement itself.
'afterbegin': Just inside the targetElement, before its first child.
'beforeend': Just inside the targetElement, after its last child.
'afterend': After the targetElement itself.

element: The element to be inserted into the tree.

Return value

The element that was inserted, or null, if the insertion failed.

Exceptions

Exception	Explanation
`SyntaxError`	The `position` specified is not a recognised value.
`TypeError`	The `element` specified is not a valid element.

Visualization of position names

<!-- beforebegin -->
<p>
  <!-- afterbegin -->
  foo
  <!-- beforeend -->
</p>
<!-- afterend -->

Note: The beforebegin and afterend positions work only if the node is in a tree and has an element parent.

Example

beforeBtn.addEventListener('click', function() {
  var tempDiv = document.createElement('div');
  tempDiv.style.backgroundColor = randomColor();
  if (activeElem) {
    activeElem.insertAdjacentElement('beforebegin', tempDiv);
  }
  setListener(tempDiv);
});

afterBtn.addEventListener('click', function() {
  var tempDiv = document.createElement('div');
  tempDiv.style.backgroundColor = randomColor();
  if (activeElem) {
    activeElem.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', tempDiv);
  }
  setListener(tempDiv);
});

Have a look at our [[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/dom-examples/insert-adjacent/insertAdjacentElement|insertAdjacentElement.html]] demo on GitHub (see the source code too.) Here, we have a sequence of <div> elements inside a container. When one is clicked, it becomes selected and you can then press the Insert before and Insert after buttons to insert new divs before or after the selected element using insertAdjacentElement().

Specification

Specification	Status	Comment
DOMThe definition of 'insertAdjacentElement()' in that specification.	Living Standard

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
`insertAdjacentElement`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 17 Full support 17 No support 12 — 17 Notes' Notes' This function is implemented in the `HTMLElement` API, meaning non-HTML elements (like SVG elements) cannot use this function.	Firefox Full support 48	IE Full support 8 Notes' Full support 8 Notes' Notes' This function is implemented in the `HTMLElement` API, meaning non-HTML elements (like SVG elements) cannot use this function.	Opera Full support 8	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 48	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

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