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HTML DOM textContent Property

Element Object Reference Element Object

Example

Get the text content of the first <button> element in the document:

var x = document.getElementsByTagName("BUTTON")[0].textContent;

The result of x will be:

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More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The textContent property sets or returns the textual content of the specified node, and all its descendants.

If you set the textContent property, any child nodes are removed and replaced by a single Text node containing the specified string.

Tip: Sometimes this property can be used instead of the nodeValue property, but remember that this property returns the text of all child nodes as well.

Tip: To set or return the HTML content of an element, use the innerHTML property.


Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
textContent 1.0 9.0 Yes Yes Yes

Syntax

Return the text content of a node:

node.textContent

Set the text content of a node:

node.textContent=text

Property Values

Value Type Description
text String Specifies the text content of the specified node

Technical Details

Return Value: A String, representing the text of the node and all its descendants
DOM Version Core Level 3 Node Object

Examples

More Examples

Example

Change the textual content of a <p> element with id="myP":

document.getElementById("demo").textContent = "Paragraph changed!";
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Example

Get all the textual content of an <ul> element with id="myList":

var x = document.getElementById("myList").textContent;

The value of x will be:

Coffee Tea
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Example

This example demonstrates the differences between the textContent and innerHTML property:

function getText() {
    var x = document.getElementById("myList").textContent;
    document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x;
}

function getHTML() {
    var x = document.getElementById("myList").innerHTML;
    document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x;
}
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Element Object Reference Element Object