Node.nodeType

The read-only Node.nodeType property is an integer that identifies what the node is. It distinguishes different kind of nodes from each other, such as elements, text and comments.

Syntax

var type = node.nodeType;

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

Constants

Node type constants

The following constants have been deprecated and are not in use anymore: Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE (5), Node.ENTITY_NODE (6), and Node.NOTATION_NODE (12).

Examples

Different types of nodes

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

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

var p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time…";

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, and displays a message if not.

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

Specifications

Browser compatibility