How to get the child element of a parent using JavaScript ?
In this article, we will learn to get the child element of the parent using Javascript. Given an HTML document and the task is to select a particular element and get all the child elements of the parent element with the help of JavaScript. For this, there are 2 ways to get the child element:
- By using the children property
- By using querySelector Method
We will discuss both approaches & understand their implementation through the examples.
The DOM children property is used to return HTMLcollection of all the child elements of the specified element.
Approach 1:
- Select an element whose child element is going to be selected.
- Use .children property to get access of all the children of the element.
- Select the particular child based on the index.
Example 1: This example implements the .children property to get the HTMLcollection of all the child elements of the specified element.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML> < html > < head > < title >Finding child element of parent with pure JavaScript.</ title > < style > .parent { background: green; color: white; } .child { background: blue; color: white; margin: 10px; } </ style > </ head > < body style = "text-align:center;" > < h1 style = "color:green;" > GeeksforGeeks </ h1 > < p id = "GFG_UP" style = "font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold;" ></ p > < div class = "parent" id = "parent" > Parent < div class = "child" > Child </ div > </ div > < br > < button onclick = "GFG_Fun()" > click here </ button > < p id = "GFG_DOWN" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; color: green;"> </ p > < script > var up = document.getElementById('GFG_UP'); var down = document.getElementById('GFG_DOWN'); up.innerHTML = "Click on the button select the child node."; function GFG_Fun() { parent = document.getElementById('parent'); children = parent.children[0]; down.innerHTML = "Text of child node is - '" + children.innerHTML + "'"; } </ script > </ body > </ html > |
Output:

class Property
The querySelector() method in HTML is used to return the first element that matches a specified CSS selector(s) in the document.
Approach 2:
- Select the parent element whose child element is going to be selected.
- Use .querySelector() method on parent.
- Use the className of the child to select that particular child.
Example 1: This example implements the .querySelector() method to get the first element to match for the specified CSS selector(s) in the document.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML> < html > < head > < title >How to get the child element of a parent using JavaScript ?</ title > < style > .parent { background: green; color: white; } .child1 { background: blue; color: white; margin: 10px; } .child2 { background: red; color: white; margin: 10px; } </ style > </ head > < body style = "text-align:center;" > < h1 style = "color:green;" > GeeksforGeeks </ h1 > < p id = "GFG_UP" style = "font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold;" > </ p > < div class = "parent" id = "parent" > Parent < div class = "child child1" > Child1 </ div > < div class = "child child2" > Child2 </ div > </ div > < br > < button onclick = "GFG_Fun()" > click here </ button > < p id = "GFG_DOWN" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; color: green;"> </ p > < script > var up = document.getElementById('GFG_UP'); var down = document.getElementById('GFG_DOWN'); up.innerHTML = "Click on the button select the child node."; function GFG_Fun() { parent = document.getElementById('parent'); children = parent.querySelectorAll('.child'); down.innerHTML = "Text of child node is - '" + children[0].innerHTML + "' and '" + children[1].innerHTML + "'"; } </ script > </ body > </ html > |
Output:

.querySelector() Method
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