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:
Try it yourself
Try it yourself »
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.
textContent | 1.0 | 9.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Syntax
Return the text content of a node:
Set the text content of a node:
Property Values
text | String | Specifies the text content of the specified node |
Technical Details
A String, representing the text of the node and all its descendants |
Core Level 3 Node Object |
More Examples
Example
Change the textual content of a <p> element with id="myP":
document.getElementById("demo").textContent = "Paragraph changed!";
Try it yourself »
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
Try it yourself »
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;
}
Try it yourself »
Overview
The textContent is the DOM property that is used to set text content for the HTML element or get the text content written inside that element.
If you set the text using textContent for an element, then the other child elements will be removed and only this text will be added in that element. This means that it will override the element content.
Code
Let’s use textContent on an element to get its text.
Code explanation
In line # 5: We have a <P> element with id elem. Inside this paragraph tag, we write some text.
In line # 7: We have written a button tag having a function change(). This function will be called when the user clicks the button.
In line # 8: Added another button with setText function, to set the text content in the p element.
From lines # 10-14: We have written the JavaScript code in the script tag. We have defined the function change() which will be called when the user clicks the button from the HTML page.
In line # 12: In function change(), we will get the <p> element using document.getElementById() and passing the id elem.
In line # 13: We will apply the property textContent on the element object and store its output in a variable.
In line # 13: Print the value returned by the property textContent using console.log().
In line # 16: The setText() function to set new text content in the element.
In line # 17: We will get the <p> element using document.getElementById() and passing the id elem.
In line # 18: Applying textContent on the p element and assigning new text content to it.
Output
When we click the GET Text button the console prints the exact text value which is in the <p> paragraph tag. And when SET button is clicked new text is added to it.
RELATED TAGS
dom
textcontent
communitycreator