HTML DOM Element nextSibling

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Example

Return the HTML content of the next sibling of a list item:

document.getElementById("item1").nextSibling.innerHTML;

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Description

The nextSibling property returns the next node on the same tree level.

The nextSibling returnes a node object.

The nextSibling property is read-only.

Important!

nextSibling returns the next sibling node: An element node, a text node, or a comment node.

Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

Alternative:

The nextElementSibling Property

nextElementSibling returns the next sibling element (ignores text and comments).

Nodes vs Elements

In the HTML DOM terminology:

Nodes are all nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).

Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

Elements are only element nodes.

Siblings vs Element Siblings

Siblings are "brothers" and "sisters".

Siblings are nodes with the same parent (in the same childNodes list).

Element Siblings are elements with the same parent (in the same children list).

childNodes vs children

childNodes returns child nodes (element nodes, text nodes, and comment nodes).

children returns child elements (not text and comment nodes).

nextSibling vs nextElementSibling

nextSibling returns the next node (an element node, a text node or a comment node). Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

nextElementSibling returns the next element (not text and comment nodes).

previousSibling vs previousElementSibling

previousSibling returns the previous node (an element node, a text node or a comment node). Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

previousElementSibling returns the previous element (not text and comment nodes).

Syntax

element.nextSibling

node.nextSibling

Return Value

Type	Description
Node	The next sibling of the element. `null` if no next sibling exists.

Browser Support

element.nextSibling is a DOM Level 1 (1998) feature.

It is fully supported in all browsers:


Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Safari	Opera	IE
Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9-11