Document

The Document interface represents any web page loaded in the browser and serves as an entry point into the web page's content, which is the DOM tree.

The DOM tree includes elements such as <body> and <table>, among many others. It provides functionality globally to the document, like how to obtain the page's URL and create new elements in the document.

The Document interface describes the common properties and methods for any kind of document. Depending on the document's type (e.g. HTML, XML, SVG, …), a larger API is available: HTML documents, served with the "text/html" content type, also implement the HTMLDocument interface, whereas XML and SVG documents implement the XMLDocument interface.

Constructor

Document(): Creates a new Document object.

Properties

This interface also inherits from the Node and EventTarget interfaces.

Document.activeElement Read only: Returns the Element that currently has focus.
Document.body: Returns the <body> or <frameset> node of the current document.
Document.characterSetRead only: Returns the character set being used by the document.
Document.childElementCount Read only: Returns the number of child elements of the current document.
Document.children Read only: Returns the child elements of the current document.
Document.compatMode Read only: Indicates whether the document is rendered in quirks or strict mode.
Document.contentType Read only: Returns the Content-Type from the MIME Header of the current document.
Document.currentScriptRead only: Returns the <script> element whose script is currently being processed and isn't a JavaScript module.
Document.doctypeRead only: Returns the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the current document.
Document.documentElementRead only: Returns the Element that is a direct child of the document. For HTML documents, this is normally the HTMLHtmlElement object representing the document's <html> element.
Document.documentURIRead only: Returns the document location as a string.
Document.embedsRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the embedded <embed> elements in the document.
Document.firstElementChild Read only: Returns the first child element of the current document.
Document.fonts: Returns the FontFaceSet interface of the current document.
Document.formsRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the <form> elements in the document.
Document.fullscreenElement Read only: The element that's currently in full screen mode for this document.
Document.headRead only: Returns the <head> element of the current document.
Document.hiddenRead only: Returns a Boolean value indicating if the page is considered hidden or not.
Document.imagesRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the images in the document.
Document.implementationRead only: Returns the DOM implementation associated with the current document.
Document.lastElementChild Read only: Returns the last child element of the current document.
Document.linksRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the hyperlinks in the document.
Document.mozSyntheticDocument: Returns true only if this document is synthetic, such as a standalone image, video, audio file, or the like.
Document.pictureInPictureElement Read only: Returns the Element currently being presented in picture-in-picture mode in this document.
Document.pictureInPictureEnabled Read only: Returns true if the picture-in-picture feature is enabled.
Document.pluginsRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the available plugins.
Document.pointerLockElement Read only: Returns the element set as the target for mouse events while the pointer is locked. null if lock is pending, pointer is unlocked, or if the target is in another document.
Document.featurePolicy Read only: Returns the FeaturePolicy interface which provides a simple API for introspecting the feature policies applied to a specific document.
Document.scriptsRead only: Returns an HTMLCollection of the <script> elements in the document.
Document.scrollingElementRead only: Returns a reference to the Element that scrolls the document.
Document.styleSheets Read only: Returns a StyleSheetList of CSSStyleSheet objects for stylesheets explicitly linked into, or embedded in a document.
Document.timeline Read only: Returns timeline as a special instance of DocumentTimeline that is automatically created on page load.
Document.visibilityStateRead only: Returns a string denoting the visibility state of the document. Possible values are visible, hidden, prerender, and unloaded.

Extensions for HTMLDocument

The Document interface for HTML documents inherits from the HTMLDocument interface or, since HTML5, is extended for such documents.

Document.cookie: Returns a semicolon-separated list of the cookies for that document or sets a single cookie.
Document.defaultViewRead only: Returns a reference to the window object.
Document.designMode: Gets/sets the ability to edit the whole document.
Document.dir: Gets/sets directionality (rtl/ltr) of the document.
Document.domain: Gets/sets the domain of the current document.
Document.lastModifiedRead only: Returns the date on which the document was last modified.
Document.locationRead only: Returns the URI of the current document.
Document.readyStateRead only: Returns loading status of the document.
Document.referrerRead only: Returns the URI of the page that linked to this page.
Document.title: Sets or gets the title of the current document.
Document.URLRead only: Returns the document location as a string.

Event handlers

The Document interface is extended with additional event handlers defined in GlobalEventHandlers.

GlobalEventHandlers.onselectionchange: Is an event handler representing the code to be called when the selectionchange event is raised.

Deprecated properties

Document.alinkColor: Returns or sets the color of active links in the document body.
Document.all: Provides access to all elements in the document — it returns an HTMLAllCollection rooted at the document node. This is a legacy, non-standard property and should not be used.
Document.anchors Read only: Returns a list of all of the anchors in the document.
Document.applets Read only: Returns an ordered list of the applets within a document.
Document.bgColor: Gets/sets the background color of the current document.
Document.charset Read only: Alias of Document.characterSet. Use this property instead.
Document.fgColor: Gets/sets the foreground color, or text color, of the current document.
Document.fullscreen: true when the document is in fullscreen mode.
Document.height: Gets/sets the height of the current document.
Document.inputEncoding Read only: Alias of Document.characterSet. Use this property instead.
Document.lastStyleSheetSet Read only: Returns the name of the style sheet set that was last enabled. Has the value null until the style sheet is changed by setting the value of selectedStyleSheetSet.
Document.linkColor: Gets/sets the color of hyperlinks in the document.
Document.preferredStyleSheetSet Read only: Returns the preferred style sheet set as specified by the page author.
Document.rootElement: Like Document.documentElement, but only for <svg> root elements. Use this property instead.
Document.selectedStyleSheetSet: Returns which style sheet set is currently in use.
Document.styleSheetSets Read only: Returns a list of the style sheet sets available on the document.
Document.vlinkColor: Gets/sets the color of visited hyperlinks.
Document.width: Returns the width of the current document.
Document.xmlEncoding: Returns the encoding as determined by the XML declaration.
Document.xmlStandalone: Returns true if the XML declaration specifies the document to be standalone (e.g., An external part of the DTD affects the document's content), else false.
Document.xmlVersion: Returns the version number as specified in the XML declaration or "1.0" if the declaration is absent.

Methods

This interface also inherits from the Node and EventTarget interfaces.

Document.adoptNode(): Adopt node from an external document.
Document.append(): Inserts a set of Node objects or DOMString objects after the last child of the document.
Document.captureEvents(): See Window.captureEvents.
Document.caretPositionFromPoint(): Returns a CaretPosition object containing the DOM node containing the caret, and caret's character offset within that node.
Document.caretRangeFromPoint(): Gets a Range object for the document fragment under the specified coordinates.
Document.createAttribute(): Creates a new Attr object and returns it.
Document.createAttributeNS(): Creates a new attribute node in a given namespace and returns it.
Document.createCDATASection(): Creates a new CDATA node and returns it.
Document.createComment(): Creates a new comment node and returns it.
Document.createDocumentFragment(): Creates a new document fragment.
Document.createElement(): Creates a new element with the given tag name.
Document.createElementNS(): Creates a new element with the given tag name and namespace URI.
Document.createEntityReference(): Creates a new entity reference object and returns it.
Document.createEvent(): Creates an event object.
Document.createNodeIterator(): Creates a NodeIterator object.
Document.createProcessingInstruction(): Creates a new ProcessingInstruction object.
Document.createRange(): Creates a Range object.
Document.createTextNode(): Creates a text node.
Document.createTouch(): Creates a Touch object.
Document.createTouchList(): Creates a TouchList object.
Document.createTreeWalker(): Creates a TreeWalker object.
Document.elementFromPoint(): Returns the topmost element at the specified coordinates.
Document.elementsFromPoint(): Returns an array of all elements at the specified coordinates.
Document.enableStyleSheetsForSet(): Enables the style sheets for the specified style sheet set.
Document.exitPictureInPicture(): Remove the video from the floating picture-in-picture window back to its original container.
Document.exitPointerLock(): Release the pointer lock.
Document.getAnimations(): Returns an array of all Animation objects currently in effect, whose target elements are descendants of the document.
Document.getBoxQuads(): Returns a list of DOMQuad objects representing the CSS fragments of the node.
Document.getElementById(): Returns an object reference to the identified element.
Document.getElementsByClassName(): Returns a list of elements with the given class name.
Document.getElementsByTagName(): Returns a list of elements with the given tag name.
Document.getElementsByTagNameNS(): Returns a list of elements with the given tag name and namespace.
Document.getSelection(): Returns a Selection object representing the range of text selected by the user, or the current position of the caret.
Document.hasStorageAccess(): Returns a Promise that resolves with a boolean value indicating whether the document has access to its first-party storage.
Document.importNode(): Returns a clone of a node from an external document.
Document.normalizeDocument(): Replaces entities, normalizes text nodes, etc.
Document.prepend(): Inserts a set of Node objects or DOMString objects before the first child of the document.
Document.querySelector(): Returns the first Element node within the document, in document order, that matches the specified selectors.
Document.querySelectorAll(): Returns a list of all the Element nodes within the document that match the specified selectors.
Document.releaseCapture(): Releases the current mouse capture if it's on an element in this document.
Document.releaseEvents(): See Window.releaseEvents().
Document.replaceChildren(): Replaces the existing children of a document with a specified new set of children.
Document.requestStorageAccess(): Returns a Promise that resolves if the access to first-party storage was granted, and rejects if access was denied.
Document.mozSetImageElement(): Allows you to change the element being used as the background image for a specified element ID.

The Document interface is extended with the XPathEvaluator interface:

Document.createExpression(): Compiles an XPathExpression which can then be used for (repeated) evaluations.
Document.createNSResolver(): Creates an XPathNSResolver object.
Document.evaluate(): Evaluates an XPath expression.

Extension for HTML documents

The Document interface for HTML documents inherit from the HTMLDocument interface or, since HTML5, is extended for such documents:

Document.clear(): In majority of modern browsers, including recent versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer, this method does nothing.
Document.close(): Closes a document stream for writing.
Document.execCommand(): On an editable document, executes a formatting command.
Document.getElementsByName(): Returns a list of elements with the given name.
Document.hasFocus(): Returns true if the focus is currently located anywhere inside the specified document.
Document.open(): Opens a document stream for writing.
Document.queryCommandEnabled(): Returns true if the formatting command can be executed on the current range.
Document.queryCommandIndeterm(): Returns true if the formatting command is in an indeterminate state on the current range.
Document.queryCommandState(): Returns true if the formatting command has been executed on the current range.
Document.queryCommandSupported(): Returns true if the formatting command is supported on the current range.
Document.queryCommandValue(): Returns the current value of the current range for a formatting command.
Document.write(): Writes text in a document.
Document.writeln(): Writes a line of text in a document.

Events

Listen to these events using addEventListener() or by assigning an event listener to the oneventname property of this interface.

afterscriptexecute: Fired when a static <script> element finishes executing its script
beforescriptexecute: Fired when a static <script> is about to start executing.
scroll: Fired when the document view or an element has been scrolled. Also available via the onscroll property.
visibilitychange: Fired when the content of a tab has become visible or has been hidden.
wheel: Fired when the user rotates a wheel button on a pointing device (typically a mouse). Also available via the onwheel property.

Animation events

animationcancel: Fired when an animation unexpectedly aborts. Also available via the onanimationcancel property.
animationend: Fired when an animation has completed normally. Also available via the onanimationend property.
animationiteration: Fired when an animation iteration has completed. Also available via the onanimationiteration property.
animationstart: Fired when an animation starts. Also available via the onanimationstart property.

Clipboard events

copy: Fired when the user initiates a copy action through the browser's user interface.
cut: Fired when the user initiates a cut action through the browser's user interface.
paste: Fired when the user initiates a paste action through the browser's user interface.

Drag & drop events

drag: Fired every few hundred milliseconds as an element or text selection is being dragged by the user. Also available via the ondrag property.
dragend: Fired when a drag operation is being ended (by releasing a mouse button or hitting the escape key). Also available via the ondragend property.
dragenter: Fired when a dragged element or text selection enters a valid drop target. Also available via the ondragenter property.
dragleave: Fired when a dragged element or text selection leaves a valid drop target. Also available via the ondragleave property.
dragover: Fired when an element or text selection is being dragged over a valid drop target (every few hundred milliseconds). Also available via the ondragover property.
dragstart: Fired when the user starts dragging an element or text selection. Also available via the ondragstart property.
drop: Fired when an element or text selection is dropped on a valid drop target. Also available via the ondrop property.

Fullscreen events

fullscreenchange: Fired when the Document transitions into or out of fullscreen mode.
fullscreenerror: Fired if an error occurs while attempting to switch into or out of fullscreen mode.

Keyboard events

keydown: Fired when a key is pressed. Also available via the onkeydown property.
keypress: Fired when a key that produces a character value is pressed down. Also available via the onkeypress property.
keyup: Fired when a key is released. Also available via the onkeyup property.

Load & unload events

DOMContentLoaded: Fired when the document has been completely loaded and parsed, without waiting for stylesheets, images, and subframes to finish loading.
readystatechange: Fired when the readyState attribute of a document has changed.

Pointer events

gotpointercapture: Fired when an element captures a pointer using setPointerCapture(). Also available via the ongotpointercapture property.
lostpointercapture: Fired when a captured pointer is released. Also available via the onlostpointercapture property.
pointercancel: Fired when a pointer event is canceled. Also available via the onpointercancel property.
pointerdown: Fired when a pointer becomes active. Also available via the onpointerdown property.
pointerenter: Fired when a pointer is moved into the hit test boundaries of an element or one of its descendants. Also available via the onpointerenter property.
pointerleave: Fired when a pointer is moved out of the hit test boundaries of an element. Also available via the onpointerleave property.
pointerlockchange: Fired when the pointer is locked/unlocked. Also available via the onpointerlockchange property.
pointerlockerror: Fired when locking the pointer failed. Also available via the onpointerlockerror property.
pointermove: Fired when a pointer changes coordinates. Also available via the onpointermove property.
pointerout: Fired when a pointer is moved out of the hit test boundaries of an element (among other reasons). Also available via the onpointerout property.
pointerover: Fired when a pointer is moved into an element's hit test boundaries. Also available via the onpointerover property.
pointerup: Fired when a pointer is no longer active. Also available via the onpointerup property.

Selection events

selectionchange: Fired when the current text selection on a document is changed. Also available via the onselectionchange property.
selectstart: Fired when the user begins a new selection. Also available via the onselectstart property.

Touch events

touchcancel: Fired when one or more touch points have been disrupted in an implementation-specific manner (for example, too many touch points are created). Also available via the ontouchcancel property.
touchend: Fired when one or more touch points are removed from the touch surface. Also available via the ontouchend property
touchmove: Fired when one or more touch points are moved along the touch surface. Also available via the ontouchmove property
touchstart: Fired when one or more touch points are placed on the touch surface. Also available via the ontouchstart property

Transition events

transitioncancel: Fired when a CSS transition is canceled. Also available via the ontransitioncancel property.
transitionend: Fired when a CSS transition has completed. Also available via the ontransitionend property.
transitionrun: Fired when a CSS transition is first created. Also available via the ontransitionrun property.
transitionstart: Fired when a CSS transition has actually started. Also available via the ontransitionstart property.

Non-standard extensions

Non-standard: This feature is non-standard and is not on a standards track. Do not use it on production sites facing the Web: it will not work for every user. There may also be large incompatibilities between implementations and the behavior may change in the future.

Firefox notes

Firefox defines some non-standard methods:

Document.execCommandShowHelp(): This method never did anything and always threw an exception, so it was removed in Gecko 14.0 (Firefox 14.0 / Thunderbird 14.0 / SeaMonkey 2.11).
Document.getBoxObjectFor(): Use the Element.getBoundingClientRect() method instead.
Document.loadOverlay(): Loads a XUL overlay dynamically. This only works in XUL documents.
Document.queryCommandText(): This method never did anything but throw an exception, and was removed in Gecko 14 (Firefox 14 / Thunderbird 14 / SeaMonkey 2.11).

Internet Explorer notes

Microsoft defines some non-standard properties:

Document.fileSize*: Returns size in bytes of the document. Starting with Internet Explorer 11, that property is no longer supported. See MSDN.

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard # interface-document
HTML Standard # the-document-object
CSSOM View Module # extensions-to-the-document-interface
Pointer Lock 2.0 # extensions-to-the-document-interface
Selection API # extensions-to-document-interface

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser