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HTML DOM forms Collection

❮ Document Object

Example

Find out how many <form> elements there are in the document:

var x = document.forms.length;
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More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The forms collection returns a collection of all <form> elements in the document.

Note: The elements in the collection are sorted as they appear in the source code.

Tip: Use the elements collection of the Form Object to return a collection of all elements in a form.


Browser Support

Collection
forms Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Syntax

document.forms

Properties

Property Description
length Returns the number of <form> elements in the collection.

Note: This property is read-only

Methods

Method Description
[index] Returns the <form> element from the collection with the specified index (starts at 0).

Note: Returns null if the index number is out of range
item(index) Returns the <form> element from the collection with the specified index (starts at 0).

Note: Returns null if the index number is out of range
namedItem(id) Returns the <form> element from the collection with the specified id.

Note: Returns null if the id does not exist


Technical Details

DOM Version: Core Level 1 Document Object
Return Value: An HTMLCollection Object, representing all <form> elements in the document. The elements in the collection are sorted as they appear in the source code

More Examples

Example

[index]

Get the id of the first <form> element (index 0) in the document:

var x = document.forms[0].id;
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Example

item(index)

Get the id of the first <form> element (index 0) in the document:

var x = document.forms.item(0).id;
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Example

namedItem(id)

Get the HTML content of the <form> element with id="myCarForm" in the document:

var x = document.forms.namedItem("myCarForm").innerHTML;
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Example

Loop through all <form> elements in the document, and output the id of each form:

var x = document.forms;
var txt = "";
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    txt = txt + x[i].id + "<br>";
}
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Example

Using the elements collection together with document.forms to get the value of each element in the form:

var x = document.forms[0];
var txt = "";
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    txt = txt + x.elements[i].value + "<br>";
}
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Related Pages

JavaScript reference: HTML DOM Form Object

JavaScript reference: Form elements Collection

HTML tutorial: HTML Forms

HTML reference: HTML <form> tag


❮ Document Object