The Node.previousSibling
read-only property returns the node immediately preceding the specified one in its parent's childNodes
list, or null
if the specified node is the first in that list.
Syntax
previousNode = node.previousSibling;
Example
<img id="b0">
<img id="b1">
<img id="b2">
console.log(document.getElementById("b1").previousSibling); // <img id="b0"> console.log(document.getElementById("b2").previousSibling.id); // "b1"
Notes
Gecko-based browsers insert text nodes into a document to represent whitespace in the source markup. Therefore a node obtained, for example, using Node.firstChild
or Node.previousSibling
may refer to a whitespace text node rather than the actual element the author intended to get.
See Whitespace in the DOM and W3C DOM 3 FAQ: Why are some Text nodes empty? for more information.
To navigate the opposite way through the child nodes list use Node.nextSibling.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
DOMThe definition of 'Node.previousSibling' in that specification. | Living Standard | No change |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Node.previousSibling' in that specification. | Obsolete | No change |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core SpecificationThe definition of 'Node.previousSibling' in that specification. | Obsolete | No change |
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 SpecificationThe definition of 'Node.previousSibling' in that specification. | Obsolete | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Update compatibility data on GitHub
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
previousSibling
|
Chrome
Full support Yes |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support Yes |
IE
Full support 5.5 |
Opera
Full support Yes |
Safari
Full support Yes |
WebView Android
Full support Yes |
Chrome Android
Full support Yes |
Firefox Android
Full support Yes |
Opera Android
Full support Yes |
Safari iOS
Full support Yes |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See also
Node.previousSibling by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.