Document.firstElementChild

The Document.firstElementChild read-only property returns the document's first child Element, or null if there are no child elements.

For HTML documents, this is usually the only child, the root <html> element.

See Element.firstElementChild for the first child element of specific elements within a document.

Syntax

// Getter
element = document.firstElementChild;

// No setter; read-only property

Example

document.firstElementChild;
// returns the root <html> element, the only child of the document

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard (DOM)
# ref-for-dom-parentnode-firstelementchild①

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
firstElementChild
29
17
25
No
16
9
≤37
29
25
16
9
2.0

See also

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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/firstElementChild