HTML DOM Element previousSibling

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Example

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

document.getElementById("item2").previousSibling.innerHTML;

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Description

The previousSibling property returns the previous node on the same tree level.

The previousSibling property returns a node object.

The previousSibling property is read-only.

Important!

previousSibling returns the previous sibling node: An element node, a text node, or a comment node.

Whitespace between elements are also text nodes.

Alternative:

The previousElementSibling Property

previousElementSibling returns the previous 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.previousSibling

node.previousSibling

Return Value

Type	Description
Node	The previous sibling of the node. `null` if no previous sibling exists.

Browser Support

element.previousSibling 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