DOM: Get Node Attribute Value

node.getAttribute(attribute_name) → Return a node/element's attribute value.

Attributes are things like class, id, style, width, height, etc.

If the attribute doesn't exist, returns null. (browsers before 2010 may return empty string "")

attribute_name should be a string, example: "style".

node is a HTML/XML element.

// get first link

const x = document .getElementsByTagName("a")[0];

x.getAttribute("href");

As of 2012-04-26, this works in all major browsers.

Using Properties for Standard Attributes

For HTML elements (not XML), usually there's a corresponding property for standard attributes.

Example:

• x = element.id
• x = element.class
• x = link_element.href
• x = img_element.width

This

x.getAttribute("href")

is same as

x.href

Class Attribute

When working with the attribute class, there are more convenient methods.

See: DOM: List/Add/Remove Class Attribute

Set Element's Attribute Value

DOM: Set Node Attribute Value