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HTML DOM querySelector() Method

❮ Element Object

Example

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()


❮ Element Object