HTML DOM querySelector() Method
Element ObjectExample
Change the text of the first child element with class="example" in a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector(".example").innerHTML
= "Hello World!";
Try it Yourself »
More "Try it Yourself" examples below.
Definition and Usage
The querySelector() method returns the first child element that matches a specified CSS selector(s) of an element.
Note: The querySelector() method only returns the first element that matches the specified selectors. To return all the matches, use the querySelectorAll() method instead.
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| querySelector() | 4.0 | 8.0 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 10.0 |
Syntax
element.querySelector(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. The returned element depends on which element that is first found in the document (See "More Examples"). Tip: For a list of all CSS Selectors, look at our CSS Selectors Reference. |
Technical Details
| DOM Version: | Selectors Level 1 Element Object |
|---|---|
| Return Value: | The first element that matches the specified CSS selector(s). If no matches are found, null is returned. Throws a SYNTAX_ERR exception if the specified selector(s) is invalid. |
More Examples
Example
Change the text of the first <p> element in a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("p").innerHTML
= "Hello World!";
Try it Yourself »
Example
Change the text of the first <p> element with class="example" in a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("p.example").innerHTML
= "Hello World!";
Try it Yourself »
Example
Change the text of an element with id="demo" in a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("#demo").innerHTML
= "Hello World!";
Try it Yourself »
Example
Add a red border to the first <a> element that has a target attribute inside a <div> element:
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("a[target]").style.border
= "10px solid red";
Try it Yourself »
Example
This example demonstrates how multiple selectors work.
Assume that you have two elements: a <h2> and a <h3> element.
The following code will add a background color to the first <h2> element in <div>:
<div id="myDIV">
<h2>A h2 element</h2>
<h3>A h3 element</h3>
</div>
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("h2,
h3").style.backgroundColor = "red";
Try it Yourself »
However, if the <h3> element was placed before the <h2> element in <div>. The <h3> element is the one that will get the red background color.
<div id="myDIV">
<h3>A h3 element</h3>
<h2>A h2 element</h2>
</div>
var x = document.getElementById("myDIV");
x.querySelector("h2,
h3").style.backgroundColor = "red";
Try it Yourself »
Related Pages
CSS Tutorial: CSS Selectors
CSS Reference: CSS Selectors Reference
JavaScript Tutorial: JavaScript HTML DOM Node List
JavaScript Reference: document.querySelector()
JavaScript Reference: element.querySelectorAll()
HTML DOM Reference: document.querySelectorAll()
