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HTMLCollection: item() method

The HTMLCollection method item() returns the node located at the specified offset into the collection.

Note: Because the contents of an HTMLCollection are live, changes to the underlying DOM can and will cause the position of individual nodes in the collection to change, so the index value will not necessarily remain constant for a given node.

Syntax

item(index)

Parameters

index: The position of the Node to be returned. Elements appear in an HTMLCollection in the same order in which they appear in the document's source.

Return value

The Node at the specified index, or null if index is less than zero or greater than or equal to the length property.

Usage notes

The item() method returns a numbered element from an HTMLCollection. In JavaScript, it is easier to treat the HTMLCollection as an array and to index it using array notation. See the example below.

Examples

const images = document.images; // This is an HTMLCollection
const img0 = images.item(0); // You can use the item() method this way
const img1 = images[1]; // But this notation is easier and more common

Browser compatibility