When working with JavaScript and manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM), you may come across situations where you need to access the parent element of a particular node. Two commonly used properties for this purpose are parentNode
and parentElement
. While they may seem similar, there are some key differences between the two.
The parentNode Property
The parentNode
property returns the parent node of an element, which can be any type of node, including text nodes, element nodes, or attribute nodes. It traverses up the DOM tree and returns the immediate parent node.
Here’s an example:
const childNode = document.getElementById('child');
const parentNode = childNode.parentNode;
console.log(parentNode);
The output will be the parent node of the childNode
.
The parentElement Property
The parentElement
property, on the other hand, returns the parent element of an element node. It specifically targets element nodes and excludes other types of nodes like text nodes or attribute nodes.
Here’s an example:
const childElement = document.getElementById('child');
const parentElement = childElement.parentElement;
console.log(parentElement);
The output will be the parent element of the childElement
.
Differences between parentNode and parentElement
While both properties serve a similar purpose of accessing the parent of an element, there are a few key differences:
parentNode
can return any type of node, whileparentElement
specifically returns only element nodes.- If the target node is not an element node,
parentNode
will return the parent node, whileparentElement
will returnnull
. parentNode
is supported in all browsers, including older versions, whileparentElement
is not supported in Internet Explorer 8 and earlier.
Conclusion
When it comes to accessing the parent of an element in the DOM, both parentNode
and parentElement
can be used. However, it’s important to consider the differences between the two and choose the appropriate property based on your specific needs.
Remember:
parentNode
returns the parent node, which can be any type of node.parentElement
returns the parent element, specifically targeting element nodes.
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