The Document Object
The document object is the root node of the HTML document.
Document Object Properties and Methods
The following properties and methods can be used on HTML documents:
Property / Method
Description
activeElement
Returns the currently focused element in the document
addEventListener()
Attaches an event handler to the document
adoptNode()
Adopts a node from another document
anchors
Returns a collection of all <a> elements in the document that have a name attribute
applets
Returns a collection of all <applet> elements in the document
baseURI
Returns the absolute base URI of a document
body
Sets or returns the document's body (the <body> element)
close()
Closes the output stream previously opened with document.open()
cookie
Returns all name/value pairs of cookies in the document
charset
Deprecated. Use characterSet instead. Returns the character encoding for the document
characterSet
Returns the character encoding for the document
createAttribute()
Creates an attribute node
createComment()
Creates a Comment node with the specified text
createDocumentFragment()
Creates an empty DocumentFragment node
createElement()
Creates an Element node
createEvent()
Creates a new event
createTextNode()
Creates a Text node
defaultView
Returns the window object associated with a document, or null if none is available.
designMode
Controls whether the entire document should be editable or not.
doctype
Returns the Document Type Declaration associated with the document
documentElement
Returns the Document Element of the document (the <html> element)
documentMode
Returns the mode used by the browser to render the document
documentURI
Sets or returns the location of the document
domain
Returns the domain name of the server that loaded the document
domConfig
Obsolete. Returns the DOM configuration of the document
embeds
Returns a collection of all <embed> elements the document
execCommand()
Invokes the specified clipboard operation on the element currently having focus.
forms
Returns a collection of all <form> elements in the document
fullscreenElement
Returns the current element that is displayed in fullscreen mode
fullscreenEnabled()
Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the document can be viewed in fullscreen mode
getElementById()
Returns the element that has the ID attribute with the specified value
getElementsByClassName()
Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with the specified class name
getElementsByName()
Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with a specified name
getElementsByTagName()
Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with the specified tag name
hasFocus()
Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the document has focus
head
Returns the <head> element of the document
images
Returns a collection of all <img> elements in the document
implementation
Returns the DOMImplementation object that handles this document
importNode()
Imports a node from another document
inputEncoding
Returns the encoding, character set, used for the document
lastModified
Returns the date and time the document was last modified
links
Returns a collection of all <a> and <area> elements in the document that have a href attribute
normalize()
Removes empty Text nodes, and joins adjacent nodes
normalizeDocument()
Removes empty Text nodes, and joins adjacent nodes
open()
Opens an HTML output stream to collect output from document.write()
querySelector()
Returns the first element that matches a specified CSS selector(s) in the document
querySelectorAll()
Returns a static NodeList containing all elements that matches a specified CSS selector(s) in the document
readyState
Returns the (loading) status of the document
referrer
Returns the URL of the document that loaded the current document
removeEventListener()
Removes an event handler from the document (that has been attached with the addEventListener() method)
renameNode()
Renames the specified node
scripts
Returns a collection of <script> elements in the document
strictErrorChecking
Sets or returns whether error-checking is enforced or not
title
Sets or returns the title of the document
URL
Returns the full URL of the HTML document
write()
Writes HTML expressions or JavaScript code to a document
writeln()
Same as write(), but adds a newline character after each statement
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