Element: append() method

The Element.append() method inserts a set of Node objects or strings after the last child of the Element. Strings are inserted as equivalent Text nodes.

Differences from Node.appendChild():

• Element.append() allows you to also append strings, whereas Node.appendChild() only accepts Node objects.
• Element.append() has no return value, whereas Node.appendChild() returns the appended Node object.
• Element.append() can append several nodes and strings, whereas Node.appendChild() can only append one node.

Syntax

append(param1)
append(param1, param2)
append(param1, param2, /* …, */ paramN)

Parameters

param1, …, paramN

A set of Node objects or strings to insert.

Return value

None (undefined).

Exceptions

HierarchyRequestError DOMException

Thrown when the node cannot be inserted at the specified point in the hierarchy.

Examples

Appending an element

let div = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
div.append(p);

console.log(div.childNodes); // NodeList [ <p> ]

Appending text

let div = document.createElement("div");
div.append("Some text");

console.log(div.textContent); // "Some text"

Appending an element and text

let div = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
div.append("Some text", p);

console.log(div.childNodes); // NodeList [ #text "Some text", <p> ]

The append method is unscopable

The append() method is not scoped into the with statement. See Symbol.unscopables for more information.

let div = document.createElement("div");

with (div) {
  append("foo");
}
// ReferenceError: append is not defined

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Element.prepend()
• Node.appendChild()
• Element.after()
• Element.insertAdjacentElement()
• NodeList