Node.nodeType

The read-only Node.nodeType property that represents the type of the node.

Description

The nodeType property can be used to distinguish different kind of nodes, such that elements, text and comments, from each other.

Syntax

var <var>type</var> = <var>node</var>.nodeType;

Returns an integer value which specifies the type of the node; possible values are listed in Node type constants.

Constants

Node type constants

Deprecated node type constants

The following constants have been deprecated and should not be used anymore.

Examples

Different types of nodes

document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE; // true
document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE; // true

var fragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
fragment.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE; // true

<code>var p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time...";</code>

p.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE; // true
p.firstChild.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE; // true

Comments

This example checks if the first node inside the document element is a comment node, and if it is not, displays a message.

var node = document.documentElement.firstChild;
if (node.nodeType != Node.COMMENT_NODE)
  console.log("You should comment your code well!");

Specifications