Using querySelector and querySelectorAll
Last updated: September 27, 2022.
Sometimes, document.getElementById
, document.getElementsByClassName
and document.getElementsByTag
name just don’t cut it.
For example, wanting to:
- Select the first element in a document by class attribute
- Selecting element by class or tag name nested in another element only
- Selecting all elements of multiple tag types (e.g. all paragraphs and span elements)
To be sure, there is usually a workaround using the standard selection methods.
However, in these situations in can often be easier to use the querySelector and querySelectorAll methods.
querySelector and querySelectorAll
The difference between these two is that querySelector returns a single element matching its selection criteria. querySelectorAll, on the other hand, returns all elements matching the search criteria in an iterable list.
Selection criteria are specified using the highly developed and powerful CSS selector syntax. This allows for highly nuanced selection without the need to combine standard methods and/or traverse the DOM.
Learn about querySelector and querySelectorAll in this post through making five nuanced DOM selections that would require some level of workaround using document.getElementById
, document.getElementsByClassName
and document.getElementsByTag
alone.
Five ways to use querySelector and querySelectorAll
#1: Using the wildcard operator (*) to select all DOM elements
You can easily select all DOM elements by combining querySelectorAll with the wildcard operator:
document.querySelectorAll('*');
#2: Select first matching element by tag or class name
document.getElementsByClassName
and document.getElementsByTag
will select all elements that match their criteria. This can be replicated by combining querySelectorAll and selecting by tag or class.
This can easily be adapted to only select the first element that would be selected by querySelectorAll by applying the querySelector method instead:
document.querySelector('p'); // Selects first paragraph element in document document.querySelector('.item'); // Selects first element of class item
#3: Mix and match id, class and tag element selection
querySelectorAll can be used to select multiple elements by a mix of id, class name and tag name:
document.querySelectorAll('#content, .item, p'); // Selects element with id content, all elements with class name item, and all paragraph elements
#4: Reaching nested elements
Elements nested within other elements can be selected using element > element
or element element
syntax.
/* Get all paragraph elements whose parent element class list contains 'container' */ document.querySelectorAll('.container > p'); /* Get all paragraph elements that are nested within an element of class 'container' */ document.querySelectorAll('.container p');
With ordinary selection methods, this would be impossible without traversing the DOM, likely resulting in more convoluted syntax.
#5: Select by HTML5 attribute and value
Because it accepts CSS syntax, querySelector and querySelectorAll can select elements by their attribute and attribute value:
/* Get all elements that contain the attribute target */ document.querySelectorAll('[target]'); /* Get all elements that contain the attribute target and are set to value '_blank' */ document.querySelectorAll('[target=_blank]');
Summary
When coming across the need for complex selection when programming, querySelector and querySelectorAll meet this demand by enabling complex element selection in a single line. And the best thing: if you already know CSS, then you are already ready to go since both methods use CSS selection syntax!
Related links
- Gamify your learning of CSS selector syntax with CSS Diner!
- W3Schools reference: CSS Selectors