HTML DOM firstElementChild Property
Example
Get the first child element of a <ul> element in HTML:
var x = document.getElementById("myList").firstElementChild.innerHTML;
Definition and Usage
The firstElementChild property returns the first child element of the specified element.
The firstElementChild property is different from the firstChild property in that firstChild returns the first child node as an element node, which may include text nodes or comment nodes (depending on which is first), while firstElementChild returns the first child node as an element node (ignoring text and comment nodes).
This property is read-only.
Tip: Use the children property to return any child elements of the specified element.
Tip: To return the last child element of the specified element, use the lastElementChild property.
Browser Support
| Property | Chrome | IE | Firefox | Safari | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
firstElementChild |
2.0 | 9.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 10.0 |
Syntax
element.firstElementChild
Parameters
None
Return Value
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Object | Returns a Node object representing the first child element, or null if there are no child elements |
Technical Details
| DOM Version | Core Level 3 Element Traversal | | --- | --- |
More Examples
Example
Get the tag name of the first child element of a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").firstElementChild.tagName;
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x;
Example
Get the text of the first child element of a <select> element:
var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").firstElementChild.text;