Web/API/Node/localName

ObsoleteThis feature is obsolete. Although it may still work in some browsers, its use is discouraged since it could be removed at any time. Try to avoid using it.

The Node.localName read-only property returns the local part of the qualified name of this node.

In DOM4 this API was moved from Node to the Element and Attr interfaces.

Syntax

name = element.localName

name is the local name as a string (see Notes below for details)

Example

(Must be served with XML content type, such as text/xml or application/xhtml+xml.)

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<head>
  <script type="application/javascript"><![CDATA[
  function test() {
    var text = document.getElementById('text');
    var circle = document.getElementById('circle');
    
    text.value = "<svg:circle> has:\n" +
                 "localName = '" + circle.localName + "'\n" +
                 "namespaceURI = '" + circle.namespaceURI + "'";
  }
  ]]></script>
</head>
<body onload="test()">
  <svg:svg version="1.1"
    width="100px" height="100px"
    viewBox="0 0 100 100">
    <svg:circle cx="50" cy="50" r="30" style="fill:#aaa" id="circle"/>
  </svg:svg>
  <textarea id="text" rows="4" cols="55"/>
</body>
</html>

Notes

The local name of a node is that part of the node's qualified name that comes after the colon. Qualified names are typically used in XML as part of the namespace(s) of the particular XML documents. For example, in the qualified name ecomm:partners, partners is the local name and ecomm is the prefix:

<ecomm:business id="soda_shop" type="brick_n_mortar" xmlns:ecomm="http://example.com/ecomm">
  <ecomm:partners>
    <ecomm:partner id="1001">Tony's Syrup Warehouse
    </ecomm:partner>
  </ecomm:partners>
</ecomm:business>

Note: In Gecko 1.9.2 and earlier, the property returns the upper-cased version of the local name for HTML elements in HTML DOMs (as opposed to XHTML elements in XML DOMs). In later versions, in compliance with HTML5, the property returns in the case of the internal DOM storage, which is lower case for both HTML elements in HTML DOMs and XHTML elements in XML DOMs. The tagName property continues to return in the upper case for HTML elements in HTML DOMs.

For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE localName is always null.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Node.localName' in that specification.	Obsolete
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Node.localName' 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
`localName` Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome No support ? — 46 Notes' No support ? — 46 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.	Edge No support 12 — 79 Notes' No support 12 — 79 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.	Firefox No support 1 — 48 Notes' No support 1 — 48 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.	IE ?	Opera ?	Safari ?	WebView Android No support ? — 46 Notes' No support ? — 46 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.	Chrome Android No support ? — 46 Notes' No support ? — 46 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.	Firefox Android Full support 45	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android No support ? — 5.0 Notes' No support ? — 5.0 Notes' Notes' This API was moved to the `Element` and `Attr` APIs according to the DOM4 standard.

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.': Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.