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HTML DOM parentNode Property

Element Object

Example

Get the node name of the parent node of a <li> element:

var x = document.getElementById("myLI").parentNode.nodeName;
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More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The parentNode property returns the parent node of the specified node, as a Node object.

Note: In HTML, the document itself is the parent node of the HTML element, HEAD and BODY are child nodes of the HTML element.

This property is read-only.


Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
parentNode 1.0 Yes 1.0 Yes Yes


Syntax

node.parentNode

Technical Details

Return Value: A Node object, representing the parent node of a node, or null if the node has no parent
DOM Version Core Level 1 Node Object

More Examples

Example

Click on an element (<span>) to hide its parent node (<div>):

<div>
  <span onclick="this.parentNode.style.display = 'none';">x</span>
</div>
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Related Pages

HTML DOM reference: node.childNodes Property

HTML DOM reference: node.firstChild Property

HTML DOM reference: node.lastChild Property

HTML DOM reference: node.nextSibling Property

HTML DOM reference: node.previousSibling Property

HTML DOM reference: node.nodeName Property

HTML DOM reference: node.parentElement Property


Element Object