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HTML DOM querySelectorAll() Method

❮ Element Object

Example

Set the background color of the first element with class="example" inside of a <div> element:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all elements inside div with class="example"
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll(".example"); 

// Set the background color of the first element with class="example" (index 0) in div
x[0].style.backgroundColor = "red"; 
Try it Yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The querySelectorAll() method returns a collection of an element's child elements that match a specified CSS selector(s), as a static NodeList object.

The NodeList object represents a collection of nodes. The nodes can be accessed by index numbers. The index starts at 0.

Tip: You can use the length property of the NodeList object to determine the number of child nodes that matches the specified selector, then you can loop through all nodes and extract the info you want.

For more information about CSS Selectors, visit our CSS Selectors Tutorial and our CSS Selectors Reference.


Browser Support

The numbers in the table specifies the first browser version that fully supports the method.

Method
querySelectorAll() 4.0 9.0 3.5 3.2 10.0

Note: Internet Explorer 8 has support for CSS2 selectors. IE9 and later versions have support for CSS3 as well.


Syntax

element.querySelectorAll(CSS selectors)

Parameter Values

Parameter Type Description
CSS selectors String Required. Specifies one or more CSS selectors to match the element. These are used to select HTML elements based on their id, classes, types, attributes, values of attributes, etc.

For multiple selectors, separate each selector with a comma.

Tip: For a list of all CSS Selectors, look at our CSS Selectors Reference.


Technical Details

DOM Version: Selectors Level 1 Document Object
Return Value: A NodeList object, representing all descendant elements of the current element that matches a specified CSS selector(s). The NodeList is a static collection, meaning that changes in the DOM has NO effect in the collection.

Note: Throws a SYNTAX_ERR exception if the specified selector(s) is invalid

More Examples

Example

Get all <p> elements inside a <div> element, and set the background color of the first <p> element (index 0):

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all p elements inside div
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll("p"); 

// Set the background color of the first <p> element (index 0) in div
x[0].style.backgroundColor = "red";  
Try it Yourself »

Example

Get all <p> elements in a <div> with class="example", and set the background of the first <p> element:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all p elements with class="example" inside div
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll("p.example"); 

// Set the background color of the first <p> element with class="example" (index 0) in div
x[0].style.backgroundColor = "red";  
Try it Yourself »

Example

Find out how many elements with class="example" there are in a <div> element (using the length property of the NodeList object):

/* Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all p elements with class="example" inside div, and return the number of elements found */
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll(".example").length; 
Try it Yourself »

Example

Set the background color of all elements with class="example" in a <div> element:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all elements with class="example" inside div
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll(".example");

// Create a for loop and set the background color of all elements with class="example" in div
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    x[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Set the background color of all <p> elements in a <div> element:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all p elements inside div
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll("p");

// Create a for loop and set the background color of all p elements in div
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    x[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Set the border style of all <a> elements in a <div> element that have a "target" attribute:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all <a> elements with a "target" attribute inside div
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll("a[target]");

// Create a for loop and set the border of all <a> elements with a target attribute in div
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    x[i].style.border = "10px solid red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Set the background color of all <h2>, <div> and <span> elements in a <div> element:

// Get the element with id="myDIV" (a div), then get all <h2>, <div> and <span> elements inside <div>
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV").querySelectorAll("h2, div, span");

// Create a for loop and set the background color of all <h2>, <div> and <span> elements in <div>
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    x[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
Try it Yourself »

Related Pages

CSS Tutorial: CSS Selectors

CSS Reference: CSS Selectors Reference

JavaScript Tutorial: JavaScript HTML DOM Node List

HTML DOM Reference: element.querySelector()

HTML DOM Reference: document.querySelectorAll()


❮ Element Object