getElementsByTagName Method

Retrieves a collection of objects based on the specified element name.

Syntax

collObjects = object.getElementsByTagName(sTagName)

Parameters

sTagName Required. String that specifies the name of an element.

Return Value

Returns a collection of objects with the specified element name.

Remarks

The getElementsByTagName method is equivalent to using the tags method on the all collection. For example, the following code shows how to retrieve a collection of div elements from the body element, first using the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) Object Model and then the Document Object Model (DOM).
Using the DHTML Object Model:
var aDivs = document.body.all.tags("DIV");
Using the DOM:
var aDivs = document.body.getElementsByTagName("DIV");
When you use the getElementsByTagName method, all child and nested child elements with the specified tag name are returned. For example, all of the SPAN elements in the following example would be returned by the getElementsByTagName method.
<SCRIPT>
var aSpans = oDiv.getElementsByTagName("SPAN");
</SCRIPT>
<DIV id="oDiv">
<SPAN>Immediate Child
<DIV>
<SPAN>Child of Child DIV</SPAN>
</DIV>
</SPAN>
</DIV>

Example

The following example uses the getElementsByTagName method to return the children of a ul element based on the selected li element.
<SCRIPT>
function fnGetTags(){
var oWorkItem=event.srcElement;
var aReturn=oWorkItem.parentElement.getElementsByTagName("LI");
alert("Length: "
+ aReturn.length
+ "\nFirst Item: "
+ aReturn[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
}
</SCRIPT>
<UL onclick="fnGetTags()">
<LI>Item 1
<UL>
<LI>Sub Item 1.1
<OL>
<LI>Super Sub Item 1.1
<LI>Super Sub Item 1.2
</OL>
<LI>Sub Item 1.2
<LI>Sub Item 1.3
</UL>
<LI>Item 2
<UL>
<LI>Sub Item 2.1
<LI>Sub Item 2.3
</UL>
<LI>Item 3
</UL>
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Standards Information

This method is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .

Applies To

A, ACRONYM, ADDRESS, APPLET, AREA, B, BASE, BASEFONT, BDO, BGSOUND, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BR, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, CUSTOM, DD, DEL, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, document, DT, EM, EMBED, FIELDSET, FONT, FORM, FRAME, FRAMESET, HEAD, hn, HR, HTML, I, IFRAME, IMG, INS, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LINK, LISTING, MAP, MARQUEE, MENU, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, Q, S, SAMP, SCRIPT, SELECT, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TITLE, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP