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How to check if an element has any children in JavaScript ?

Last Updated : 20 Dec, 2023
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The task is to find out whether an element has child elements or not with the help of JavaScript. We’re going to discuss a few techniques.

Approach

  • Select the Parent Element.
  • Use one of the firstChild, childNodes.length, children.length property to find whether an element has a child or not.
  • hasChildNodes() method can also be used to find the child of the parent node.
  • Node.contain method: return a boolean value 

Example 1: In this example, hasChildNodes() method is used to determine the child of <div> element. 

html




<html>
<body>
    <h1 style="color:green;">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1>
 
    <div id="div">
        <p id="GFG_UP">
        </p>
    </div>
 
    <button onclick="GFG_Fun()">
        click here
    </button>
 
    <p id="GFG_DOWN">
    </p>
 
    <script>
        let parentDiv = document.getElementById("div");
        let el_up = document.getElementById("GFG_UP");
        let el_down = document.getElementById("GFG_DOWN");
 
        el_up.innerHTML = "Click on the button to check "
            + "whether element has children.";
 
        function GFG_Fun() {
            let ans = "Element <div> has no children";
 
            if (parentDiv.hasChildNodes()) {
                ans = "Element <div> has children";
            }
 
            el_down.innerHTML = ans;
        }
    </script>
</body>
</html>


Output:

How to check if an element has any children in JavaScript ?

How to check if an element has any children in JavaScript ?

Example 2: In this example, children.length Property is used to determine the child of <div> element. 

html




<html>
<body>
    <h1 style="color:green;">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1>
 
    <div id="div">
        <p id="GFG_UP">
        </p>
    </div>
 
    <button onclick="GFG_Fun()">
        click here
    </button>
 
    <p id="GFG_DOWN">
    </p>
 
    <script>
        let parentDiv = document.getElementById("div");
        let el_up = document.getElementById("GFG_UP");
        let el_down = document.getElementById("GFG_DOWN");
 
        el_up.innerHTML = "Click on the button to " +
            "check whether element has children.";
 
        function GFG_Fun() {
            let ans = "Element <div> has no children";
 
            if (parentDiv.children.length > 0) {
                ans = "Element <div> has children";
            }
 
            el_down.innerHTML = ans;
        }
    </script>
</body>
</html>


Output:

How to check if an element has any children in JavaScript ?

How to check if an element has any children in JavaScript ?

Example 3: In this example, we are using Node.contain a method to determine the child element.

HTML




<html>
<body>
    <h1 style="color:green;">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1>
    <div id="GFG">
        <p id="gfg"> Click on the button to check
            whether element has children.</p>
    </div>
    <button onclick="GFG_Fun()">
        click here
    </button>
    <p id="result"></p>
    <script>
        function GFG_Fun() {
            let parent = document.getElementById("GFG");
            let child = document.getElementById("gfg");
            document.getElementById("result").innerHTML =
                "Does Element contain child: " + parent.contains(child)
        }
    </script>
</body>
</html>


Output:



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