JavaScript | Get the text of a span element

Last Updated : 23 May, 2019

Given an HTML document and the task is to get the text of a <span> element. There are two methods used to get the span elements which are discussed below:

HTML DOM textContent Property: This property set/return the text content of the defined node, and all its descendants. By setting the textContent property, the child nodes are removed and are replaced by a single Text node having the specified string.
Syntax:
- Return the text content of a node.
```
node.textContent
```
- Set the text content of a node.
```
node.textContent = text
```
Property values: It contains single value text which specifies the text content of the specified node.
Return value: It returns a string, representing the text of node and all its descendants. It returns null if the element is a document, a document type, or a notation.
HTML DOM innerText Property: This property set/return the text content of defined node, and all its descendants. By setting the innerText property, any child nodes are removed and are replaced by a single Text node having the specified string.
Syntax:
- Return the text content of a node.
```
node.innerText
```
- Set the text content of a node.
```
node.innerText = text
```
Property values: It contains single value text which specifies the text content of the specified node.
Return value: It returns a string, representing the “rendered” text content of a node and all its descendants.

Example 1: This example gets the content by using textContent property.

<!DOCTYPE HTML> 
<html> 
    <head> 
        <title> 
            JavaScript | Get the text of a span element
        </title>
    </head> 
      
    <body style = "text-align:center;" id = "body"> 
          
        <h1 style = "color:green;" > 
            GeeksForGeeks 
        </h1> 
          
        <span id="GFG_Span" style = "font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold;"> 
            This is text of Span element. 
        </span>
          
        <br><br>
          
        <button onclick = "gfg_Run()"> 
            Click here
        </button>
          
        <p id = "GFG_DOWN" style = 
            "color:green; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">
        </p>
          
        <script>
            var span = document.getElementById("GFG_Span");
            var el_down = document.getElementById("GFG_DOWN");
              
            function gfg_Run() {
                el_down.innerHTML = span.textContent;
            }         
        </script> 
    </body> 
</html>                    

Output:

Before clicking on the button:
After clicking on the button:

Example 2: This example gets the content by using innerText property.

<!DOCTYPE HTML> 
<html> 
    <head> 
        <title> 
            JavaScript | Get the text of a span element
        </title>
    </head> 
      
    <body style = "text-align:center;" id = "body"> 
      
        <h1 style = "color:green;" > 
            GeeksForGeeks 
        </h1> 
      
        <span id="GFG_Span" style = "font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold;"> 
            This is text of Span element. 
        </span>
      
        <br><br>
          
        <button onclick = "gfg_Run()"> 
            Click here
        </button>
          
        <p id = "GFG_DOWN" style = 
            "color:green; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">
        </p>
          
        <script>
            var span = document.getElementById("GFG_Span");
            var el_down = document.getElementById("GFG_DOWN");
              
            function gfg_Run() {
                el_down.innerHTML = span.innerText;
            }         
        </script> 
    </body> 
</html>                    

Output:

Before clicking on the button:
After clicking on the button:

My Personal Notes

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