NodeIterator

BaselineWidely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

TheNodeIterator interface represents an iterator to traverse nodes of a DOM subtree in document order.

ANodeIterator can be created using theDocument.createNodeIterator() method, as follows:

const nodeIterator = document.createNodeIterator(root, whatToShow, filter);

Instance properties

This interface doesn't inherit any property.

NodeIterator.rootRead only

Returns aNode representing the root node, as specified when theNodeIterator was created.

NodeIterator.whatToShowRead only

Returns anunsigned long bitmask that describes the types ofNodeto be matched. Non-matching nodes are skipped, but relevant child nodes may be included.

The possible bitmask values are constants from theNodeFilter interface:

Constant	Numerical value	Description
`NodeFilter.SHOW_ALL`	`4294967295` (that is the max value of`unsigned long`)	Shows all nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_ATTRIBUTE`Deprecated	`2`	Shows attribute`Attr` nodes. This is meaningful only when creating a`NodeIterator` with an`Attr` node as its root; in this case, it means that the attribute node will appear in the first position of the iteration or traversal. Since attributes are never children of other nodes, they do not appear when traversing over the document tree.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_CDATA_SECTION`Deprecated	`8`	Shows`CDATASection` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_COMMENT`	`128`	Shows`Comment` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_DOCUMENT`	`256`	Shows`Document` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT`	`1024`	Shows`DocumentFragment` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_DOCUMENT_TYPE`	`512`	Shows`DocumentType` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_ELEMENT`	`1`	Shows`Element` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_ENTITY`Deprecated	`32`	Legacy, no longer used.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_ENTITY_REFERENCE`Deprecated	`16`	Legacy, no longer used.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_NOTATION`Deprecated	`2048`	Legacy, no longer used.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION`	`64`	Shows`ProcessingInstruction` nodes.
`NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT`	`4`	Shows`Text` nodes.

NodeIterator.filterRead only

Returns aNodeFilter used to select the relevant nodes.

NodeIterator.referenceNodeRead only

Returns theNode to which the iterator is anchored.

NodeIterator.pointerBeforeReferenceNodeRead only

Returns a boolean indicating whether or not theNodeIterator is anchoredbefore theNodeIterator.referenceNode. Iffalse, it indicates that the iterator is anchoredafter the reference node.