HTML DOM querySelector() Method

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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!";

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

Description

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.

Tutorials:

CSS Syntax

CSS Selectors

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!";

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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";

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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 »

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()

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