Web/API/ParentNode/children

The ParentNode property children is a read-only property that returns a live HTMLCollection which contains all of the child elements of the node upon which it was called.

Syntax

let children = node.children;

Value

An HTMLCollection which is a live, ordered collection of the DOM elements which are children of node. You can access the individual child nodes in the collection by using either the item() method on the collection, or by using JavaScript array-style notation.

If the node has no element children, then children is an empty list with a length of 0.

Example

const foo = document.getElementById('foo');
for (let i = 0; i < foo.children.length; i++) {
  console.log(foo.children[i].tagName);
}

Polyfill

// Overwrites native 'children' prototype.
// Adds Document & DocumentFragment support for IE9 & Safari.
// Returns array instead of HTMLCollection.
;(function(constructor) {
  if (constructor &&
    constructor.prototype &&
    constructor.prototype.children == null) {
    Object.defineProperty(constructor.prototype, 'children', {
      get: function() {
        let i = 0, node, nodes = this.childNodes, children = [];
        while (node = nodes[i++]) {
          if (node.nodeType === 1) {
            children.push(node);
          }
        }
        return children;
      }
    });
  }
})(window.Node || window.Element);

Specification

Specification	Status	Comment
DOMThe definition of 'ParentNode.children' in that specification.	Living Standard	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
`children`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.5	IE Full support 9 Notes' Full support 9 Notes' Notes' Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 supported it, but erroneously includes `Comment` nodes.	Opera Full support 10	Safari Full support 4	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 9	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
Support on `Document` and `DocumentFragment` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 29	Edge Full support 16	Firefox Full support 25	IE No support No	Opera Full support 16	Safari Full support 9	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 9	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
Support on `SVGElement` Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 16	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera ?	Safari Full support 9	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support 9	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.